Hooked Together
by TheSonador
Summary: Hook just wanted to skin his crocodile. He didn't ask for old acquaintances, carefully hidden secrets, and his... feelings... to pop up and complicate everything. A little Captain Swan, and a lot of my OC! Follows plot up through "Queen of Hearts". Becomes AU after that. T for language. I don't get dirty.
1. Stowaway

**A/N: Hey hey! So here's the first chapter. Please review. Like I said, it's AU and Killian is established in Storybrooke and Cora, well, you'll find out won't you? :P**

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_His legs were tiring. He usually wouldn't have tired this quickly, but then again, he usually wouldn't have taken the longest route possible to his destination. Part of him insisted that he had chosen this rarely trod path because it would allow him just a little more time, even if the girl in his arms was asleep for those spare moments. No, he told himself. That's not why. He had chosen this path because it avoided the town. Avoided the noise and the people, and any possible questions. He had to be careful not to wake her up. Despite the mild sedative he'd slipped her, he couldn't risk waking her. If she woke now, it would all be over. He could hear the protests already, and he wasn't sure he could remain resistant to her demands. Giving in to her could be his, as well as her own, undoing._

_Yes, he told himself. This was the correct thing to do._

_He adjusted his grip on her, freezing when this movement caused her to stir a little. He waited until she'd settled to begin climbing the wooden stairs to the tiny house at the top of the hill. He knocked on the door - quietly - with the toe of his boot. The noise alerted the family dog, which began to bark. He cursed to himself silently. To get all the way here without waking her was a feat in and of itself, one which he was immensely proud of. To have the damned animal be his undoing at the very end would be too much. The very end? Yes, this was the very end. He'd have to accept that._

_Luckily, a female voice shushed the dog before opening the door._

_"Is this the child?" Her eyes were soft and her face was pleasant, slightly settling the churning motions in his gut. She was in her mid-forties at most, and had been talked about as a very gentle woman with a good heart._

_"Yes," he replied in a low voice. "I'd rather not wake her, if you don't mind. Do you have somewhere I can put her down?"_

_"Yes," the woman answered. "Come in."_

_He stepped gingerly into the cottage. It was small, but well-kept. It stood at the top of a hill overlooking the sea. The girl was accustomed to the sea. She loved it, in fact. He took a bit of comfort in knowing he'd given her that much._

_"In here," the woman gestured to a small sitting room. "Her room is up the ladder, but you can't climb it without waking her." He simply nodded before moving to place the girl down gently onto the tattered sofa. Her head, which she'd unconsciously nestled into the crook of his neck, hung limply for a moment as she slid from his grasp. He felt the absence of her soft hair brushing against his chin and although the lack of her small frame relieved his tired arms, he couldn't help but feel very cold. He resisted the overwhelming urge to gather her back up to his chest and return with all haste before she even knew what he'd almost done._

_No. He scolded himself for the hundredth time, forcing his... Regrets? Sadness? His emotions, he decided, to the back of his mind. This was it and he had better learn to deal with it._

_These people were far from rich, but the girl wouldn't want for anything while she was here. She would be taken care of to his satisfaction, he'd seen to that personally._

_The girl shifted again, grumbling something about the cabin being too damn cold again. It was a little damp in here... oh well. These were far better conditions than she'd been used to in the past. He breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't wake._

_He turned to leave the room. No long goodbyes, he reminded himself. She'd say something - something to make him change his mind. Too late for that. He couldn't change his mind, not with her life on the line._

_"I don't mean to pry," the woman whispered, following him a few steps out of the room. "but why exactly are you just leaving her here? She does know what's happening, doesn't she?"_

_He paused in the doorway. The sleeping draft he'd given her would wear off soon, and she would wake up. He had to leave before then. The last thing he needed was her chasing him across the bay._

_"I'm afraid, madam, that she is unaware of the arrangement," He replied quickly. "I must go, and you must make sure she stays here. Don't be letting her try and follow me. I have reasons of my own for leaving her in your capable hands." He walked briskly out the door and onto the porch. "I thank you, bid the lass farewell for me... And apologize."_

**.**

**. .**

**.**

She clutched the straps of her backpack tightly in her hands. _Chill out,_ she thought. _You've done this before. You've done this before._

Tiptoeing over the dock without being heard was easy enough. Not being seen, well, that was another story entirely. She breathed slowly, deliberately. She had to keep her head. If she was seen, she'd need every ounce of brainpower to get away unscathed. One foot in front of the other. Nearing the edge of the yacht, she easily grabbed the edge and pulled herself up.

This boat wasn't exactly empty; the owners were staying on board, preparing for their trip. Luckily they weren't "party people" and were sound asleep at three in the morning. The crew seemed to have disappeared too, to her relief.

She quietly crept across the deck, to the stairs that would lead her to the owner's cabin. This was a large boat, and also had cabins for the crew and lots of rooms for storage, some of which remained untouched most of the time. This wasn't the first time she'd been aboard, no. It was, however, the first time she'd ever _stayed_ aboard.

She made her way down the stairs, careful to listen for any signs of movement. As she passed the door that marked the owner's quarters, she heard nothing but gentle snoring. She continued down, down to almost the bottom of the ship, and into a small, empty room. Well, a nearly-empty room. She had a few boxes for company, and after poking through them, found nothing but a few fancy dishes.

She carefully closed the door and removed her backpack. She sat down on the floor, trying to make herself comfortable. They'd be leaving at a leisurely hour come morning, and she'd be stuck in here for a good twenty hours before they docked in Storybrooke.

She woke with a start when she heard voices outside her door.

She wasn't sure what time it was, or how long she'd slept. The ship was still rocking beneath her, and her instincts told her that they hadn't docked yet.

"No, no, no!" A female voice said. "I know they're in here. I want them for our guests next week, and they'll need cleaned. I can't remember the last time we touched them."  
_  
Fuckity shit!_

The woman was talking about the dishes. Sophie knew it, and she also knew that there was nowhere in this room to hide. She was small, and had crammed herself into the oddest of hiding places before, but this room was so utterly empty that she found herself face to face with a middle-aged woman in less than thirty seconds.

"Robert!" The woman screamed.  
_  
Well, there goes plan A._

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"Damn it, Killian, if you don't hand them over I swear to God I will arrest you!" Emma tried again to snatch her handcuffs from him.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you'd hardly be able to arrest me without them."

"I couldn't use them on you, anyway. You only have one damn hand." She was just an inch or so too short to grab them from where he was holding them above her head. It never ceased to amaze Emma how men, no matter _how_ old they were, still managed to maintain the mentality of a five-year-old.

"Too true, lass."

Since he was still not handing them over, she kicked him in the shin. He wasn't prepared for her to react violently, so he was taken a little off guard. He had bent over just enough for her leap up and grab her handcuffs from his good hand with a satisfactory "Haha!"

"Alright, you win, Swan," Killian said. "No need to get physical."

"You're such a pain in the ass." She said flatly.

"From you, love, that's a compliment." He smirked.

Emma had been sitting in her office for hours, trying to catch up on some paperwork that procrastination was making far worse. She took a long drink of her coffee, trying desperately to make up for her lack of morning caffeine. She'd never skip out on coffee again, if this headache was indeed proof of her caffeine addiction. It was almost as bad as a hangover.

She put down her pen and rubbed her temples. Laying her head down on the stack of paper and dozing off suddenly seemed like a very good idea, but she forced her eyes to stay open. If she could just finish this, she'd be all caught up. She just had to finish this last bit. She rubbed her aching hand, convinced she was going to get carpal tunnel syndrome if she had to write for one more second.

Her hand. It reminded her that she was long past due for a visit from a certain pirate who usually stopped in at some point in the day. Not that she looked forward to his unnecessary social call, because she didn't, but it did make her wonder. Of course, just then...

"Afternoon, love!"

"What is it now?" She'd groaned, flopping her head down on the desk. Hm, that nap sounded even better from down there. She wanted to say something about him interrupting her work, but she was far too relieved of the excuse to take a break to complain much more.

"What's wrong, Swan?" He'd asked. "You don't look happy to see me."

She had slowly lifted her head from her folded arms and raised an eyebrow at him. He was pretending to look hurt, but she could still see the smirk threatening to ruin his facade. That's when he'd stolen her handcuffs.

She shoved them into her pocket with a satisfactory "Hmf" and sat back down in her chair before her phone began buzzing.

Damn.

One distraction after another. An unknown number flashed across the screen.

"Hello?"

"Is this the sheriff?" A gruff male voice came through the earpiece.

"Yes, it is. Can I help you?"

"We need you down at the marina," he said quickly. "We found a stowaway on our boat, think she's a runaway."

"Is she still there?"

"Got 'er under lock n' key. Thought she was real clever trying slip away, but we got her here for you to take care of."

"I'll be down at the marina in a few minutes." She hung up and slipped her phone into her pocket.

"What's going on?" Killian asked.

"Some sort of stowaway down at the marina, apparently..." She said absentmindedly as she collected her keys, and doubled checked her phone.

"Curious, I thought strangers didn't come to Storybrooke?"

"Well, they don't. Not normally, I mean," Emma began. "They drive through it occasionally, and we get visitors from time to time. The curse somehow prevents them from staying here for any length of time."

"Ah, so they can pass the town line without being..." Hook paused.

"Without being de-memoried. Yes." Emma pulled on her coat and headed for the door, pausing when Killian followed. "Can I help you?"

"I'm going with you."

"No, you're not." Emma said blankly. "I'll have enough to worry about without you mindlessly tailing me."

"Mindlessly?" Hook asked. "I don't do _anything_ mindlessly. Besides, I've nothing better to do. And I would make an excellent accomplice."

"Accomplice?" Emma repeated sarcastically. "Somehow I never saw a pirate becoming the accomplice of a cop."

"What can I say, love? I'm full of surprises."

**.**

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**.**

If Hook gave her one more smoldering sidelong glance, she was going to slap him so hard his clothes were going to be out of style when he woke up. Which is something he probably wouldn't appreciate seeing as he'd just acquired most of them. He'd settled into Storybrooke rather quickly, more quickly than she'd expected. Then again, Cora had made sure they were both prepared for the new land.

Emma parked her car as close to the docks as she could get to prevent herself from having to walk too terribly far.

"You drive like a chimpanzee," Hook stated. "I believe my life flashed before my eyes more than once."

"When you learn to drive, Hook," Emma retorted. "Then you can diss _my_ driving."

"Touche."

Emma got out of her car and strode towards the docks, Killian on her heels.

"Why are you walking so fast?"

"Why are you walking so slow?"

"Someone's in a mood..."

"No, actually." Emma said sharply. "I'm not in a mood. Meaning, I'm not in any mood to put up with your shenanigans. So if you don't mind, I'd like to get this over with as soon as possible." She continued marching past the rows of boats.

"Are you Sheriff Swan?" A man stepped out from behind one of the larger boats. His voice matched that of the man she'd spoken with on the phone, and his appearance matched the gruffness of his voice. He was small, heavier, with hair that looked extremely unkempt.

"Yes," Emma replied. "Is this your boat?"

"No, I just work here." He replied, holding out his hand. "Name's Robert."

"You can call me Emma," she said, shaking his hand. She noticed his glance turn to Killian, then run down his left arm to his hook, then back up to his face. "Oh, this is my... associate. Killian."

"Charmed." Killian said flatly, noting the man's glance down at his hook. Very rude.

Because you know, there was nothing weird about the hook thing.

"Where is this person you were telling me about?"

"Right up here, follow me." Robert replied.

"Are the owners wanting to press charges?"

"She hasn't made up her mind yet. Nothing was taken. Seems like the poor kid just wanted to hitch a free ride." Robert said. "Boys, the sheriff's here!"

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_  
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"Boys, the sheriff's here!"  
_  
Double fuckity shit._

Sheriff? Oh, hell no. If they thought they were going to arrest her, throw her in jail, they had another thing coming. No way was she going down like this. Were they even in Storybrooke? She had no idea. They may have stopped anywhere so long as they could throw her off their boat. She couldn't get in trouble like this. Not now.

Two of the crew members entered the small room they'd immediately locked her into, one grabbing each arm before she could try for any great escape. There was no point in fighting them off down here anyway. She'd wait until she was outside, where she could get on shore and run like hell. The next town, the next boat, what ever, she didn't care.

They dragged her none too gently up the stairs and out onto the deck where a blonde woman (the sheriff? Sophie was expecting someone older, fatter, more... sheriffy) was waiting with the old guy.

Now.

Sophie swung on the crewman to her left, using their grip on her arms to hoist herself high off the ground and bring her foot hard against the side of his head. The first crewman let go, and the second was quick to release her when she threw him a punch. She ran towards the dock, but the blonde blocked her.

Emma grabbed the girl by the waist as she tried to charge past, but she spun out of Emma's grasp too quickly. Emma hadn't been ready for the small girl to exhibit that kind of strength, and was thrown off balance and onto the ground. When she made a second grab at the girl, she missed.

Sophie was nearly off the ship when she saw him.

Instead of running down the boarding ramp and onto the docks to possible freedom, she tried to skid to a stop. Sophie had spent plenty of time on boats, but she had forgotten one thing: everything is always slippery.

When she tried stop her feet, one of them simply slid out from under her. She went down, her head crashing against the yacht's railing. Her vision blacked out, and she limply fell into the water below.

"Shit," Emma hissed, standing up. She ran to the railing and looked down. The girl was _not_ trying to swim.

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**A/N: Any and all constructive criticism is appreciated! I am still learning here. As you may or may not be able to tell, I actually came back and edited this. I added a few lines in the beginning (and cut out a couple that just... they bothered me...) and found most of the typos. I think. I will be fixing the other chapters as well, so keep a sharp eye for minor changes!**


	2. Wendy

**A/N: So here is chapter number two! I hope you like it!**

**I want to give a special shout-out to naiariddle! You were the first person to review, and you literally made my whole week! Thanks to everyone who followed and read and and and OMG I wasn't expecting this from my first real fic! You guys are amazingly wonderfully awesomely spectacular!**

**I forgot to mention last chapter that I don't own anything. Except Sophie, and she's epic. :P Although I wouldn't mind owning Colin O'Donoghue...**

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_A solitary tear ran down her cheek as she sat, knees tucked under her chin, at the edge of the water. Monotonously, the waves lapped up at her bare feet, then swept back into the sea again._

_She had to be alone. She rarely got a moment's solitude here, and these were the only moments she allowed herself to cry._

_She felt his presence long before he said anything, which is why she'd stifled her sobs._

_"What'cha cryin' for?"_

_"Go away."_

_"What'cha cryin' for?"_

_"Leave me alone!"_

_"What'cha cryin' for?"_

_"Get lost!" She yelled, standing up._

_"Aw c'mon..." he whined. He let his feet float up above his head, until he was looking at her upside-down._

_"Peter, I'm not in the mood to play stupid games with you!"_

_"You always say that." Peter remained in his upside-down state for several more seconds before flipping onto his feet. His short reddish hair stuck up awkwardly at all angles, and the rags he passed off as clothes were covered in mud today. Wendy stomped up the beach, hoping he'd get bored and leave her alone. Her own clothes were the dirtiest they'd ever been, and were in all likelihood going to get a lot worse. The bottom of her once pale-blue nightgown was completely tattered at the bottom now, and she'd recently caught one of the sleeves on a branch, slashing it from her shoulder to her elbow. Her hair was in no better a state. The once silky golden-brown tresses were now matted and tangled, probably beyond saving. It wasn't her appearance that bothered her so, but her inability to do anything about it._

_After her parents had died in a house fire, Wendy had been living on the streets for quite some time. She'd adjusted, sure, but she longed for the security of a family. No - not even a family. She longed for something, anything, to hold on to. Some kind of security. Something._

_Oh, you're going to ask about Neverland. How did she get there? Quite by accident._

_It had been a semi-decent morning for her; she'd "lifted" a few biscuits from someone's picnic as breakfast, and no one had chased her off their street, set their dogs on her, or asked her where her parents were. So as far as she was concerned, she was having an extremely good day._

_That is, until Peter Pan showed up. She'd had no clue as to who he was, but when she stumbled into him on the street, she'd assumed he was just another one of her "people". He'd followed her around like a puppy for half the day, until he'd announced that he was hungry. It was really a proclamation, too. He stopped, place his hands on his waist and said it loud and clear. He'd then turned to Wendy, and asked if she wanted to go with him._

_"Sure... why not?"_

_Why not indeed. He grabbed her wrist, and pulled her away from the busy street. The next thing she knew, here they were._

_Wendy had been nearly inconsolable. She'd just started to get used to one life... not a good one, but a life nonetheless. And suddenly, here she is, stuck forever at thirteen in an uncivilized land with mean-spirited pixies and a group of extremely ignorant young boys._

_She continued marching up the beach, away from Peter. He was the worst out of all of them. He was the one person who could travel between Neverland and Wendy's country, but he refused to take her back. He was somewhat fascinated with Wendy for whatever reason, and had quickly deemed her "his". She wasn't going anywhere any time soon._

_"Completely insufferable..." she muttered to herself. Peter was not following her. He must have seen something shiny._

_She walked for a very long time up the beach, until her legs were too tired and she needed to sit in the warm sand for a while. She sighed, her hand instinctively going to her matted locks. "It used to be so pretty..." she said softly._

_A loud scream caught her attention. Her head shot up, and she had to strain her eyes through the mist to see where the uproar was coming from. On the horizon, she saw mermaids, leaping into the air to swim as fast as possible to their caves. What were they fleeing from?_

_Wendy stood to get a better view. In the distance, she saw something very large and looming slowly appear out of the fog._

_"A ship!" she cried with glee. How had it gotten here? More importantly, could it get back?_

**.**

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**.**

Emma immediately began to kick off her shoes, but before she could rid herself of her coat, she heard a splash. She looked down and saw Killian diving under the dock.

"Killian!" She yelled, racing down the boarding ramp and onto the dock. She knelt at the edge, waiting for him to emerge.

With a sudden gasp of air, Killian's head burst through the surface, clutching the girl with one arm as he swam towards Emma.

"Hand her up," Emma said, grasping the girl's arms and pulling her onto the dock. Killian hoisted himself out of the water.

"She's unconscious," Killian stated. Emma had already begun checking the girl's head. There was a good-sized gash where it had slammed against the railing, and it was bleeding profusely. "Is she breathing?"

"I... I think she is." Emma stood up. "You keep an eye on her, I've got to call Whale."

A short conversation later, Emma had Killian carry the girl to her Volkswagen and was speeding down the road towards the hospital. Whale had suggested they not call an ambulance, seeing as Emma was already very close. They decided the best thing to do was lay her down as flat as possible, with Killian kneeling in the back the keep her from being jostled around too much.

Emma screeched to a halt in front of the hospital, jumping out of her car at lightning speed. Killian already had the girl in his arms and was rushing towards Dr. Whale, who had run outside to meet them.

"Bring her in quickly," He said.

They followed him into the building and down the hallway into an empty room. Killian, who was still sopping with seawater, placed her gently on the bed, and Whale tipped her head to get a better look at the gash. The blood had seeped through the girl's hair and down her clothes, and was now oozing onto the bedsheets.

"Scalp lacerations always bleed a lot, this isn't as bad as it looks," he began. "It's the lack of consciousness that concerns me."

"What are you going to do?" Killian asked.

"Where's her parents?" Whale responded. "I can't do much without the consent of a legal guardian or next of kin,"

"You're not gonna get permission, Whale," Emma said. "We don't even know her name."

"Right then. I need to get her down to radiology."

**.**

**. .**

**.**

Emma wrung her hands nervously in the waiting room, pacing up and down the wall. Whale and a few nurses were still with the mystery kid, and apparently the girl had a decent concussion.

She only stopped walking when Snow and David entered the room.

"Hey," Snow said. "We heard what happened, is she okay?"

"She's got a concussion, and she hasn't come around yet," Emma replied. "I feel absolutely terrible."

"You didn't do anything," David said reassuringly. "She was the one who freaked out."

"I think I spooked her," Emma said. "She might not have tried to run if not for me... I could've handled it so much better." She shook her head. "I don't know what I'll do if she's not okay."

"Hey," Snow said, placing an arm around her daughter's shoulder. "You handled the way you needed to, and you probably saved her life jumping in after her."

"Actually, Killian got her out of the water." Emma replied.

Killian had said nothing, not moved from his chair for a very long time. At the mention of his name, he tipped his head in her direction with a "Hm?"

"Well," Snow said, smiling at him for maybe the first time. "I guess even the bad guys can be heroes when they want to be."

Killian smiled weakly.

_Hero. Hrm. Sure._

**.**

**. .**

**.**

_Later that day, just after dark, Wendy traipsed back into Peter's camp. He and the lost boys were gathered around a fire (a badly built fire, she noted mentally), each of them talking about some nonsensical thing that had happened to them that more than likely wasn't true. Peter suddenly stood up._

_"I have decided that we are going on a mission tonight," He said proudly. "I was talking to the mermaids, and they had the life scared out a them by a dip."_

_"What's a dip?"_

_Wendy rolled her eyes. "He means a ship."_

_"No, it was a dip." Peter said. Peter was always right. Especially when he was wrong. "Anyways, it's like a giant, fancy floating log, all carved out so people can ride on it."_

_"Wow!"_

_"That sounds like fun!"_

_"Well, it sure looked like fun," Peter said. "Anyways, I mean to kill the people on it and take it."_

_"You... what?" Wendy asked._

_"They scared the mermaids, they don't deserve to live. And I want to play with the dip. They won't let me do that if they're on it, now will they?" Peter jumped onto a large rock where he would be visible to everyone in the camp. "We attack at midnight!"_

_"Peter, you can't just off everyone who makes you mad-" Wendy protested._

_"Oh be quiet!" he replied loudly. "And just for that, you don't get to come!"_

_Wendy knew that argueing further would most likely end up with her hanging from a tree somewhere, and she could hardly foil his attempts if she were trapped on shore..._

_Peter and the lost boys left just before midnight. Or, what Peter had decided was midnight. It was really more like eight o'clock. She had tried to teach Peter to tell time once, but that failed miserably. He'd also demanded she teach him to read, but that ended in him taking the book and making up whatever story he could and pretending he was reading it. She'd tried to explain to him that that's not how reading worked, but no._

_She quietly followed behind the group for a time, before cutting off the path and into the woods. Subtlety was not Peter's strong point, and she knew exactly where they were going and exactly how they were going to get onto the ship. All she had to do was get there first. Her only problem was the pixies telling on her, but they'd been scarce with the weather turning colder. She had to warn the people on that ship._

_It hit her then - what if they weren't... people? What if it was a ghost ship? or full of dead bodies? Or what if they were non-friendly people? Or something worse..._

_Nonsense._

_She burst out of the woods onto the beach, breaking into a run. She could see the ship clearly now, it had landed not far from shore, and there were lights coming from it. She ran across the shore, diving into the water. She was a strong swimmer, and it didn't take long for her reach the ship. It was very still, but when she caught herself against the hull, she realized she hadn't planned a good way to get _onto_ the ship. Oh well, she'd have to get their attention somehow. She caught her breath for a moment, remembering Peter's plan for getting on the ship. Peter could fly over, of course, but the lost boys would be expected to swim over, as she had done. Which was sad, because not all of them could swim. Knowing them, they'd dive in anyway and drown, and after Peter's pillage they'd all go home with not so much as a, "Hey, I wonder where Bobby went."_

_"Hey!" She yelled. "Down here!" She splashed the water around her. "Hello!"_

_A face that was a bit too far away to see clearly in the dark peered over the edge, before disappearing. She faintly heard, "Captain, come see!"_

_The same face reappeared again, then disappeared, then suddenly a rope was headed in her direction. She held onto it tightly as she began being pulled up at quite a speed, and she could still hear fragments of conversation:_

_"Cap'n, are you sure this be a good idea?"_

_"Smee, it's a little girl. I think we can take her."_

_Suddenly, she was pulled into the railing of the ship and the rope slid from her hands. She just barely caught herself from falling back into the water, and quickly a silver hook caught her arm and pulled her up. Did they keep that thing handy just to grab people with? It pulled her the rest of the way over the rail, and she suddenly realized that it wasn't just a hook. It was attached to an arm._

_Oh God, she'd been right. It wasn't a ship full of people, it was a ship full of creatures with hooks for hands and... she looked up to see a not unpleasant face attached to the body of the hook-hand._

_"Very smooth, Smee." He said. "Just throw the lass back next time, why don't you?"_

_"Sorry cap'n!" the man said, placing a red hat on his head._

_"Where'd you come from, miss?" He asked. She glanced at his other hand, which was indeed a hand. She breathed a great sigh of relief._

_"The shore," She said slowly. She was relieved that the evasive answer didn't rile him. In fact, he smiled._

_"Ah, yes. Well, now that we've established that, might I ask what you are doing flagging down my ship?" Goodness, she'd almost forgotten about Peter!_

_"There's these boys, and one of them can fly, and they're coming over here to try and take your ship, and also I thought that if you knew how to get here, you'd know how to leave, and you see it happened some time ago that the one that can fly ran into me on the street and what happened wa-"_

_"Slow down, love, I can hardly understand a word you're saying."_

_"Let me start over," She said, steadying herself._

_"Heeeeeeya!"_

_"Captain! We're being attacked!"_

_Wendy gasped when a flash of muddy green clothes sped through the air, armed with a small blade. Peter landed on the deck, taking up his stance._

_"Okay you... tall people. Hand over the dip!"_

_"Pardon?" The hook-hand man said._

_"He means the ship."_

_"Ah, right." He smirked at the boy who thought he could best a pirate captain with a toothpick. He drew his sword and matched the boy's stance. "I don't take to killing children, but there's one thing you should never try to do, and that is take a ship away from its captain."_

_Peter tended to forget that things were not all fun and games, and seemed very uncomfortable when the captain swung at him... and meant it._

_"Get them, boys!" Peter yelled. The lost boys somehow swarmed onto the deck (well, most of them did. As Wendy suspected, there were a few missing) and began firing various items from fruit to rocks to seashells at the crew with homemade slingshots._

_"Captain," The man with the red hat yelled. "What will you have us do?"_

_"Smee, they're trying to take the ship. Do what you must!" He turned back to Peter, who was flying around his head, knife poised. He wasn't all that worried about his safety; if the lad got close enough to hurt him with that thing he'd already be sliced into mincemeat. The problem lied within the whole flying thing. It sort of threw him off. How was he supposed to get a single thrust in when the damned pest wouldn't put his feet on the ground?_

_Suddenly, the flying little git all but disappeared. The captain spun on his heel, intent on ending the brat._

_Peter flew silently up behind the captain, blade poised. Wendy gasped._

_"Look out!" She yelled, catching Peter by the foot and wrestling him to the ground. The captain spun again to face his assailant._

_"What are you doing here?" Peter cried. He shoved her off of his person. She rolled and sprung back to her feet, and Peter was already facing the captain again. "Boys, they stole Wendy! Take her back!"_

_"Oh God..." She said, running to use the captain as a human shield between herself and Peter. The boys didn't come. In fact, they were gone. They'd seen the pirates fighting back with equal force and retreated in terror._

_The other crewman slowly edged in around Peter._

_Peter glanced around him, and seeing he was clearly bested, took flight. He hovered over the mast for a moment, and yelled that he'd come back to rescue Wendy in a week or two. Then, he flew away._

_"That was beyond doubt the strangest thing that's ever happened to me." The hook-hand man said._

_"Thank you!" Wendy shrilled, throwing her arms around him in a very tight hug._

_"And that would be the second," he said. He hesitated, making a very disturbed face before peeling her arms from around his midsection. "Care to explain?"_

_"You have just met Neverland's most infamous resident, Peter Pan."_

_"Why the bloody hell does he fly?" He asked._

_"I don't actually know," Wendy replied. "But I'm glad I'm not stuck with him anymore."_

_"You live with that... thing?" He asked. If her appearance didn't make him pity her, that thought certainly did._

_"Yep."_

_"...why?"_

_"Long story short, I was kidnapped, in a manner of speaking." She replied._

_"What's your name?"_

_"Wendy Moira Angela Darling." She said proudly. "If you don't mind, who are you?"_

_"That," Said the man with the hat. "Is Captian Hook."_

_"How creative..." Something about that incredulous look made him smile. When she continued to look at him with one eyebrow cocked at an odd angle and large eyes blank, he had to laugh._

_"You can call me Killian, love." He said._

_"Oh. That's better. I think..."_

**.**

**..**

**.**

Snow sat next to Emma in the waiting room, one hand on her shoulder. Killian still hadn't said a word. The grayness of the room suddenly brightened when a nurse wearing bright pink scrubs entered the room.

"Guess who's awake!" She said brightly.

"That's excellent news!" Snow cried.

"She's awake?" Those two words were the most anyone had heard out of Killian for the better part of two hours.

"And rather unhappy," the nurse said. "I presume Emma wants to talk to her?"

"Yeah, I have to at least get her name and find out what she was doing stowed away on a yacht," Emma said, standing. "Is it cool if I go in now?"

"It's fine."

Emma headed down the hallway and quietly entered the room. Dr. Whale was still there, shining a small light into her eyes.

"Ah, Emma." He said. "Little miss, this is the sheriff you nearly killed yourself getting away from. Do you remember her?"

"Oh, vividly."

_Smartass._

"Well young lady, I'll be back in a while to check on you. You can stay here and have a chat with Emma."

"Joy."

Whale stood up and left the room, his chair spinning slightly. Emma took the vacated seat and pulled it over to the bed.

"What's your name, kid?"

"Sophie."

"Is there a last name that comes with that?"

"There is, but I'm not going to tell it to you."

"Okay, why?" Emma scanned the girl's features. She had bright gray eyes with unfairly long eyelashes, and long blondish-brown waves that were currently quite messy, although she should be grateful that Dr. Whale had been able to stitch up the gash on her head without shaving any of it off.

"Because I've got some questions to ask you first."

"Okay, shoot." Emma said, leaning back in her chair.

"One. Are you a real cop?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Because you don't dress like one."

"I have a badge."

"Yeah fine I believe you," Sophie answered. "Two, where the hell am I?"

"You're in a town called Storybrooke," Emma replied.

"Oh, good!"

"Why is that so good?"

"I... I'm not sure." Sophie replied. "I don't remember. I remember the name though. It was important. Storybrooke... Huh."

"Okay Sophie, you asked me a couple questions, now it's my turn." Emma leaned forward. "One. Why were you on that boat?"

"Funny. I remember getting on the boat, I don't quite remember why though. I think I was trying to get here."

"To Storybrooke?"

"Yeah... I think so. I'm not sure why though."

Emma paused. This girl reminded her of someone. The Storybrooke thing made her wonder.

"Two." Emma said slowly, considering what to ask next. "Where are your parents?"

"They died a long, long time ago." Sophie said. There was no sadness, no malice even. Just plain and simple truth.

"I'm sorry. Who's taking care of you? How old are you?"

"I ran away from foster parents oh, last year sometime. They didn't even bother looking for me. I'm thirteen, by the way." She replied.

"Why'd you run away?"

"I didn't like her cooking, duh." she replied sharply. "Why do you think?"

"I have a feeling it's for the same reason I ran away from a foster home," Emma replied. Hook, line, and sinker. She was the "cool cop" now. Now they could get somewhere.

"Yeah, probably," Sophie said. "So we're both cool with the fact that you're not sending me back, right?"

"Sophie, I have to do what I'm obligated by the law to do," Emma replied.

**.**

**. .**

**.**

Killian couldn't take it anymore. He stood up and before anyone could protest, marched out of the waiting room, into the hallway, and towards the room Emma had disappeared into.

He had to know.

He had to know _right now_. Was she who he thought she was? Had she recognized him? Or was she someone else entirely and that long stare she'd given him at the marina was calculating how to pass him, not recognize him?

As far as physical appearances go, she had to be her. He'd gotten a good look at her in the car, and there was no mistaking it. And the way she'd gotten away from those men, well, there weren't a lot of little girls that could do that. Add to that the fact that she'd chosen to come here by boat and well, he had himself one hell of an argument.

He had a feeling, though. A nagging that suggested something wasn't right with her at the moment. He took a deep breath before opening the door.

"Emma?" he asked slowly. He leaned halfway in, trying to stay somewhat casual.

Emma glanced away from the girl in the bed. The girl looked up at him, and blinked slowly. She furrowed her eyebrows at him for a moment.

"Oh," she said. "You're that guy from the marina."

Her voice. It was the right voice.

_'That guy from the marina' my ass. _He thought. He was a little hurt, but also extremely relieved.

"That's Killian," Emma said. "He's who had to dive in and pull you out. Killian, this is Sophie."

"Hi."

"Hello there," Killian said, adding a bit more charm to his greeting than she had.

"So um, thanks for like, not letting me die."

"You're very welcome."

She ran her eyes down his person to his hook, which he hadn't bothered to remove. She stared at it for a minute, biting her lip to keep from laughing. Yeah, nothing weird about the hook thing.

**.**

**. .**

**.**

**A/N: Well, what did you think? As I said last chapter, constructive criticism is much loved. I was going to try and do more explaining of how Hook got into Storybrooke and what happened to Cora in this chapter, but it kind of went in its own direction. . So I guess that will be put into chapter three. See ya'll next update!**

**Much love!**

**_~thesoapgirl_**


	3. Amnesia?

**A/N: *Killian Jones falls to his knees as the Dark One's grip tightens around his heart. He lets out a short cry of pain. Suddenly, a small person leaps onto Rumplestiltskin's back. The lights turn on, revealing the green screen behind the set. Robert Carlyle, in full costume, nearly falls over as the person on his back makes a rather futile attempt to bring him down.***

**Robert: Will someone get this person off of me?!**

**thesoapgirl: DON'T HURT MY PIRATE!**

**Colin: Security! Robert, it's a fangirl, run!**

**.**

**. .**

**.**

Emma left the hospital room with less information than she'd wanted, and more torn emotions than she'd bargained for.

Option one was to send Sophie back into "the system". If her last foster parents had been abusive, then she'd have to notify the proper authorities. Then Sophie would be sent God-knows-where with God-knows-what kind of people. True, Emma hardly knew the girl, but she could relate to her situation and absolutely hated the idea of putting her in "the system", so Emma was going to take any route necessary to avoid this option.

No, option one was not desirable.

Option two was to keep her here, somewhere. Where? With whom? Well, if it came right down to it, Emma would take her for a while. What if they came looking for her? Well, they'd deal with that when the time came.

The owner of the yacht had not pressed charges, and had even sent Sophie a "get well soon" card. The woman had felt terrible about the accident and was willing to forget about the stowaway incident as long as Sophie hadn't taken or otherwise damaged anything, which she hadn't.

There was also another reason not to let her leave town: Although she seemed to have most of her memories, some things were foggy. And the cloudy look that had filled her eyes when she had found out she was in Storybrooke... it was like she knew something else but couldn't put her finger on what it was.

Then she had Killian to think about. Oh, she was onto him alright. After he'd looked in on Sophie, he'd fled the hospital and all but disappeared. The man was acting so oddly that she was tempted to arrest and interrogate him. Unfortunately, she couldn't do that without probable cause.

_Probable cause?_ She thought. _He's Captain friggin Hook. That's not probable cause enough?_

For now, though, she had bigger codfish to fry. Pun intended.

She walked briskly down the hallway and into the waiting room, where she found Snow and David still waiting. Snow, being the nurturing type she was, was going to be stuck to that waiting room chair like Krazy Glue until she heard news of the girl's safely. David, on the other hand, was interested and mildly concerned, but mostly he just felt like he should be in the know because he was currently becoming one of the town leaders, seeing as the people weren't even remotely interested in following Regina's politics.

"So?"

"She's okay," Emma began. "But we're leaving her here overnight for observation. Whale is surprised she's doing as well as she is,"

"Indeed."

Emma turned to find Whale behind them, his hands folded behind his back, clutching something Emma immediately recognized as an x-ray.

"What's that?" David asked, gesturing to Whale's item.

"Ah, this. This is Sophie's CT scan result," He replied. "I brought it out to show you just why I think that her condition is so odd. Follow me." The trio followed him into a room with a glowing fluorescent screen, which he slide the photograph onto.

"I have no idea what I'm looking at," Emma admitted.

"Okay, you see that?" Whale pointed to a spot on picture. "That's the medial portion of the temporal lobe of Sophie's brain, and there's significant damage there."

"What's that mean?" Snow asked, folding her arms.

"That part of the brain is thought to be essential for memory storage, damage to that part of the brain is often associated with both retrograde and interograde amnesia." He replied.

"Amnesia?" Emma asked. "Sophie seems fine for the most part."

"For the most part?" Whale asked. "What did she say to you?"

"Well, she did say something about not remembering why she wanted to come to Storybrooke," Emma replied.

"Miss Swan, I'm afraid that with the extent of the damage," He paused. "It's very unlikely that that's all she's forgotten."

"What are you saying?" Emma said.

"I'm saying that there is too much damage for her to remember as much as she seems to," Whale continued. "And with some of the Storybrooke people still missing, we need to seriously consider the possibility that her amnesia has affected her memories of who she was in the past."

"Just like the curse did," Snow replied.

"Yes, like the curse," Whale agreed. "The difference is that this may wear off entirely on its own. It could happen suddenly, or it could happen piece by piece."

"And if we send her out of town, she could lose those memories forever," Snow said.

"But if she isn't from our land," David added. "Then we can't just announce the truth about this town to her. It's already been decided to keep the reality of Storybrooke a secret."

"So what do you suggest?" Emma asked.

"We're going to have to keep her in town and see if she remembers anything," Snow suggested.

"Hold on, we can't just keep her hostage here until she remembers memories she might not even have," David protested.

"Actually, we kind of can," Emma said. "She ran away from home a long time ago, and apparently no even knows, or cares, that she's missing. They aren't going to come looking for her anytime soon."

"Dr. Whale, is there any way to tell for sure?"

"Unfortunately, no." He replied. "But if I were you, I'd keep her away from that town line."

**.**

**. .**

**.**

_It had been over a week since the small girl had first climbed aboard the _Jolly Rodger_, and he wasn't sure exactly how he was going to go about getting rid of her._

_She was quite determined to stay after she'd worn him down into telling her that yes, they did indeed plan on returning to the other land eventually. He'd attempted to convince her that she could leave and go about whatever business she pleased, and they'd let her know when the time came for them to leave. She'd responded with a "Yeah, sure. Not falling for _that_ one."_  
_  
There was always the option of simply, well, throwing her back, but Hook was not so fond of that idea. She could drown, although he doubted it very highly, but besides that he was quite sure that she'd end up back with the other miscreants on the island, and seeing as she was the only one who seemed to have any sense out of all of them, she could turn out to be a significant pain in his backside if she decided to make herself his enemy._

_Not that he was afraid of the little beast, mind you, but she had demonstrated several times already that she had a strong spirit and a rather remarkably sharp mind, and combined with a touch of darkness, made for a slightly eerie combination._

_That little darkness, he'd concluded, was of the sort that is caused by cruelty being inflicted upon a person. That little darkness gets created when being bright and open makes you liable to all sorts of repercussions, and building up a darkness that matches your tormentor's is a most affective means of protecting yourself._

_No, no throwing her back._

_She was also morbidly curious and had managed to explore every inch of his ship - every unlocked room, and every corner with some long-forgotten about item, wanting to know everything about every object that caught her eye._

_She tended to be a noisy and extremely busy creature and if 30 minutes passed without her running up and down the deck, or breaking something, or calling him with another question, Killian could guess with an accuracy of 90 that she was somewhere she ought to not be._

_He wasn't entirely sure how she'd done most of it without someone noticing, and he was beginning to wonder if a few certain crew members were not encouraging her. They'd gotten pretty used to having her around, and only a few of them had protested to her presence on the ship._

_Her most famous escapade was when she'd sneaked into his cabin one night, shortly after her arrival. He had been sound asleep, and not noticed a thing until a loud thump alerted him to the presence of another._

_He jumped up, silently stalking over to where this faceless intruder sounded like he was coming from. He sincerely hoped that he wouldn't alert the fiend to his presence, seeing as it was bloody dark in there and he could hardly see his own hand in front of his face and walking into a piece of furniture was a very real danger._

_There, it moved again. His ears became the main source of information in the darkened room and his whole body became less aware of its surroundings, as if to put every ounce of energy into hearing. A rustling of fabric… poorly concealed breathing… Something was in the closet and it was definitely moving. He remained perfectly still, trying to fool the intruder that seemed quite busy with the objects that had been pushed in there. He narrowed his eyes, trying to pull any possible images into focus out of the inky blackness._

_This person was rummaging through every shelf, obviously trying to guess what secret treasures were on them without waking him or using a light. _

Three, two, one...

_Killian grabbed the handle and flung open the door._

_"Hook!" Shrieked the small thief, banging her head on the bottom of a shelf. Her hands flew to her injured head, and she began pondering all possible excuses to explain away her curiosity-induced mischief._

_"This could not be more incriminating," Hook's adrenaline levels dropped significantly once he realized that his intruder was a skinny girl with an internal compass that pointed her to places she shouldn't be._

_"I was..."_

_"Has anyone ever told you that you're not very good at stealth?"_

_"I'm stealthy! I've been in here for quite some time without you waking up."_

_"I've changed my mind. That is definitely even more incriminating," He replied. He was very annoyed at that moment but there was a small part of him that saw the humor in the situation and he had to keep from laughing. "Might I ask what in the name of God you're doing in there?"_

_"Looking."_

_"For?"_

_"I don't know, I couldn't sleep and I was bored." He couldn't see the expression on her face. He didn't like not knowing what state his room was now in, so he began feeling his way around for the table which had an oil lamp on it somewhere. _

_"So you decide that invading my closet is a good source of late-night entertainment?" _

_"...Yes." _

_Thump._

_"Ouch!" _

_Found the table._

_It was after this particular occasion that he decided that if he wasn't going to get rid of her, he might as well use her. Nothing insidious, of course, just something that might keep her busy and out of trouble for a few hours every day. Maybe if some of her energy was burned off, he didn't know... cleaning or something, then she'd sleep through the night instead of crawling into all sorts of strange places. Like his closet. He would never get over that one._

_It was simple things at first - Move this, tidy that, please don't cut that open - and every command was followed not with the usual "Yes sir" or "Yes captain", but rather by a short "Mkay!"_

_She'd managed to coin that phrase in about a day, and she had a very specific way of saying it. Once used to it, one would be able to find that particular "mkay" anywhere._

_The strategy worked for a while, save for one problem: The more she mastered the simpler tasks, the more quickly she finished them, leaving more time in between for her to resume her devilment. It wasn't so bad in the beginning, just your run-of-the-mill impishness, but after the mermaid episode (Killian hadn't minded their company so much, however Wendy had apparently had some sort of run in with them before and had thrown some choice words at a few of them, which would have been bloody hilarious except for afterwards the mer-people nearly sunk his ship) Killian made up his mind to let her follow him around all day. It was irritating at first, but after a while she had become white noise in the background, blending into the constant swish of the water so much that he often had to remind himself to respond once in a while so she didn't think he was ignoring her and run off without him noticing. _

_One morning, after she'd finished every made-up chore Killian could possibly think of, she was again dogging him like a shadow._

_"Why do you carry a sword everywhere all the time?"_

_"Why shouldn't I?"_

_"Because you're on _your_ ship, with _your_ men, and I don't see any threat of attack nearby. It's like walking around your house with a weapon all the time."_

_"Because I can," Killian responded dismissively. _

_"Hm... nope. Try again."_

_"Pardon?"_

_"That's not a real answer," Wendy replied. Killian sighed. This question was getting old fast. _

_"Because you never know when something dangerous could happen."_

_"Hm," she hummed slowly. "I suppose that's an answer." There were a few blessed peaceful moments before she started again. "How is it everyone on this ship just happens to know how to use a sword?" Killian groaned inwardly._

_"Well, they... a lot of people learn at some point in their life, just because it's a common means of self-defense."_

_"How do you learn?"_

_"This is nothing more than a plot to make me teach you, isn't it?"_

_"Is that an offer?"_

**.**

**. .**

**.**

Emma left the house early the next morning, making a mental list of everyone she needed to pay a visit to, trying to organize the ridiculously busy day she was going to have. This would be one of those mornings where an hour at Granny's, another cup of coffee and a short chat with Ruby would help her feel less irked about all the things she was going to have to do today.

When she opened the door and flopped onto a bar stool, the smiling brunette gave her once glance before placing a cup of coffee in front of her.

"Is it that obvious?" Emma asked.

"Oh yeah," Ruby replied. "What's up?"

"Do you want the short list or the long?"

"Start at the beginning." Ruby tossed the dishcloth she'd been using to wipe down the counter over her shoulder.

"So you know how we sometimes get, excuse the term, outsiders stopping at the marina?" Emma said with a raised brow. She sipped the coffee slowly.

"Yeah?"

"Well some rich lady with a yacht sails up, right? And I'm at the station when I get a call about a stowaway kid on board. So I go down there, figure I'll pick her up, call her parents, go all 'Scared Straight' on her. Well, Hook decides to follow me down there,"

"That man needs a hobby."

"No kidding. And so me and Hook are yanno, sorta standing around while rich lady's goons go down to bring the kid up on deck. So they come out with this girl, and the kid takes down the first guy, gets away from the second guy, and makes a beeline for the dock,"

"Wow! How old is this kid?"

"She's like, thirteen, but she's tiny," Emma replied. "So she's running, and I'm thinking to myself, 'shit, she must have some reason to be scared if she's this desperate to get away'. So I try to block her path and grab her as she goes by, but she pulls this spin move on me and she was way stronger than she looked, so I fall on my ass and the kid's still running."

"Oh, there's one for the ego."

"Yep. She's hauling butt towards the boarding ramp, and then she tries to stop. Everything on the boat was so damn slippery that her feet just skid out from underneath her, and because she was just passing the rail, bam."

"Bam?"

"Kid goes down, her head hits against the railing."

"Oh my God!"

"She's right next to the boarding ramp, right? So she just slides right into the water. I'm thinking, 'great, she's gonna make a swim for it'. But I look down, and she's unconscious."

"Was she okay?"

"I'm getting to that. You're gonna love this part. So I'm getting ready to jump in and grab her when I hear a splash-"

"Killian jumped in, didn't he?" Ruby almost squeaked.

"Yep. I guess being a strong swimmer sort of comes with the pirate thing. So we get her out, and we rush her over to the hospital. It took a while, but when she wakes up Whale's telling me she has this massive concussion."

"So is she okay?"

"Well, this is the punchline. I go in to talk to her, and she seems pretty much fine. But when I leave, Whale comes out with this x-ray and he's telling me that her brain's so jacked up that there's absolutely no way in hell that she can be as okay as she is."

"Meaning?"

"He thinks she might be from, you know, Fairy Tale Land, and doesn't remember it because of the fall. And now we aren't sure what the hell we're going to do with her, because if she's a "Storybrooke person", leaving town will cause her to lose all her memories for good."

"Holy crap. So, we're like, just gonna kidnap her until she remembers who she is?" Ruby quipped.

"Well, seeing as she's been a runaway for around a year now and no one's even looking for her, we kind of are."

"What if she didn't come with the curse?"

"Therein lies the problem," Emma responded, taking a long drink of her coffee. "We can't just bombard her with info to see if we can make her remember things, because doing so would expose all of us," Emma noted how she'd used the term "us". Like she had finally accepted that she was indeed part of all this.

"Wow, quite the predicament we're in."

"Tell me about it." Emma lifted her cup to signal she was ready for another, and Ruby disappeared into the kitchen momentarily before returning with a large coffee pot.

"You know, it'd be smart if you switched to decaf," She said.

"Blech," Emma replied. "Not today. I've got to go down to the hospital and pick up the girl - I didn't have anyone to keep an eye on her and Whale is ready to throw her out, apparently she's a pain in the ass - then I've got to start figuring out a way to figure out if this kid came with the curse or not. And I've gotta find Hook, he was acting too damn weird for my liking yesterday."

"Well I can't help with the pirate or the kid right now," Ruby began. "But why don't you check with Regina? Didn't she only bring who she wanted? She might know who the kid is. Also, I'd parade her around a little bit, see if someone recognizes her."

"Oh God, I almost forgot. I have to pick up Henry from Regina's today, dammit. I guess I'd have to talk to her anyway."

"I'll get a to-go cup for that coffee."

"You're the best, Ruby." Emma said.

A scant few minutes later she was back in her VW, ambling towards the hospital. Whale had called her, complaining that Emma was later than he'd expected and Sophie was pushing everyone to their limits. Emma parked on the street and jogged up the steps, striding purposefully into the waiting room. Sophie was already there, flopped back into a chair with Dr. Whale standing guard. Sophie's clothes from the previous day had been washed and given back to her, and her hair was now untangled and blood-free. All in all, there had been a very pretty little girl under the hospital gown and matted locks, as Emma had suspected.

"Good morning, Sheriff," Whale greeted her blankly.

"Morning Dr. Whale, Sophie," Emma replied. "Ready kid?"

"I guess so."

"Well, let's get going," Emma said, glancing at Whale. "Is there anything I need to know before we leave?"

"Not really," He replied. "Unless she gets dizzy, or drowsy, or nauseated in the next day or two she should be fine. Nothing to sign, no legal guardian."

"No one would happen to know what's become of my backpack, would they?" Sophie asked.

"You had a backpack?"

"Oh well, there wasn't anything that important in it anyway." Sophie said with a resounding sigh.

Emma lead her outside to her car, and didn't say anything until they began to roll forward.

"So about this backpack," She said slowly.

"I said there was nothing important in it," Sophie responded. "Just some clothes and stuff."

"We can get you whatever you need while you're here," Emma said. "And until we think of a better solution, you'll be staying at my place."

"Works for me."

"So, I have a few more questions for you." Emma continued. "What were you planning to do when you got here?"

"Don't remember."

"There seem to be a lot of things you don't remember." Emma said. "And it's important that we know what you remember and what you don't, for your uh, health's sake."

"Well, it's kind of weird," Sophie replied. "I remember doing things, I just don't remember why I did them."

"Example?"

"I remember wanting to come to Storybrooke, don't know why. I remember being really worried about not getting to Storybrooke when the people on the boat said the sheriff was there, don't know why. I also remember something about what's-his-face, the guy who jumped in after me. No, I remember remembering something about him. Now I don't remember what it was I remembered."

Emma paused, eyes transfixed on the definitely had to find Killian now, figuring out Sophie's possible past depended on it.

"You don't remember anything at all about why you wanted to come here?"

Sophie was quiet for a long time, then replied slowly. "Well, I did see this post card..."

"A Storybrooke postcard?"

"Yeah, it had a picture of the marina on it. I found it in the garbage," She replied. "I'm not sure why that inspired me to come here, though."

"Huh." Emma continued to cruise towards the station, wheels turning inside her brain when she noticed a familiar figure sitting on the front steps. She pulled her car over to her usual space and leapt out of the car.

"Just the person I was looking for," Emma called. "Wait here a sec, Sophie."

"Mkay."

"Emma," Killian began. He gave a quick glance towards her car, then turned his eyes back to Emma before standing. "How's she?"

"She's fine. We're thinking she might be from the old land," Emma's eyes ran over Killian's person momentarily. He'd traded in his pirate gear for a slightly more Storybrooke look - black jeans, a grey t-shirt and a black leather jacket, which his hands... Erm... Hand and _hook_ were pushed into the pockets of. Emma had almost not noticed it when he'd first stopped sporting the pirate ensemble, seeing as he'd kept a very strong Killian feel to his recent wardrobe choices.

"What makes you think so?" Hook asked.

"Well, she's apparently got enough brain damage to cause serious amnesia, but she doesn't seem to be forgetting anything major. Whale thinks it could he affecting the memories of her old life."

"Fascinating," Killian replied in a flat voice. "You said something about looking for me?"

"Yeah, where'd you skip off to yesterday?"

"Nowhere in particular," he responded. "Why? Were you concerned?" he batted his eyelashes at her. Emma ignored the latter question.

"Oh really? You sure it didn't have anything to do with Gold?"

"Aren't we a clever lass?" he flashed her a smile. "Thinking that perhaps my focus turned to the man I came here hunting for... Genius."

"Answer the question, Hook."

"Sadly no, it had practically nothing to do with my crocodile," he said, smile fading. "I had to take care of a few things."

"Such as?"

"Don't you have more important things to worry about?"

"Such as?"

"The girl's gone."

Emma spun around to look at her car, and unfortunately, Hook was right - the car was empty.

"Shit," Emma spat. "Where the hell'd she go?"

"See you around," Killian said, smirking and turning to walk away from the station.

"Killian, if you disappear again I swear I will hunt you down," Emma called over her shoulder as she jogged towards her vehicle.

"Don't threaten me with a good time, Swan," he called back.

No, he wasn't worried a bit about Sophie. Not because he didn't give a damn, but because he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the kid could take care of herself. The odds were against her leaving town, and he very much doubted anyone in Storybrooke was going to recognize her, which was all he had to worry about at this point.

He had considered going to the hospital first, but he reconsidered, thinking that perhaps that wasn't the best idea. It could arouse a bit of suspicion, and the less he was around the girl the better. He'd opted instead for waiting at the police station for Emma, not planning that Sophie was going to be in the car. He had simply wanted to be sure that she was still alright, and Sophie's presence was all the answer he'd needed to that question.

He'd hoped to press Emma for a little more information on her, seeing as the girl hadn't recognized him, but Emma had been far too interested in him for his own good. He'd have to keep things a bit more subtle.

She was worried about him going after Rumplestiltskin, but he currently had no plans for the bastard he'd longed to destroy for so long. He hadn't seen very much of the man who was now commonly referred to as Mr. Gold, which was odd to him because he was sure that the man should have made his move by now. Ah well, the more time he had, the better. He'd still been expecting Storybrooke to be a magic-free zone, and was now unsure of exactly how he was going to avenge the woman he'd loved. Obviously, Gold didn't quite have the power he used to have, seeing as Killian was still here and not evaporated into some kind of oblivion. Still, magic was magic, and Killian had gotten the short end of the stick in that department.

Regardless of Rumple's current magical state, Killian would still have to be extremely careful with the girl. If Rumplestiltskin had indeed lost much of his power, it would be all the more tempting to use the poor kid as his chess piece of choice.

_At least Cora's not here to annihilate everyone,_ he though gratefully. Whatever Emma had done to her, it had wounded the old queen somehow. The witch had abandoned him with all haste after Snow and Emma had escaped through the portal, more than likely planning to come back for him as soon as she wanted something else. Unfortunately for Cora, she had neglected to remember that Hook had kept the petrified bean, not even thinking to use the lake's restorative properties to her advantage.

Hook had entered Storybrooke no thanks to any of the betraying women in his life, thank you very much, and only to find that skinning his crocodile was going to be trickier than he'd planned.

**.**

**. .**

**.**

**A/N: So? So? Whadja think? I have to apologize for the late update, but what with Christmas and all I've just been lazy and swamped with other things... I finally stuck the tidbit of how Hook got to Storybrooke and what happened to Cora in here, and I'm quite pleased with that fact even though it kinda sucked. Whatever. Can't wait for the premier! I'm sure my fellow Hookers will agree! XD **


	4. Killian's Dilemma

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own OUAT.**

**Except in my dreams.**

**In which case Colin O'Donoghue is mine.**

**.**

**. .**

**.**

Killian sat in a chair in a corner of the newly-opened library, feet propped up on a nearby table, disinterestedly scanning through an ancient hardcover edition of a book he'd once found in Fairy Tale Land. It was nothing terribly interesting, he just found it odd that they would have the same book here in this world.

He felt eyes on him - he had a talent for that; knowing when he was being watched - and he glanced upwards to meet them. Belle's gaze quickly darted back to the stack of books she was organizing and dispersing on various shelves. The brunette had recognized him quickly enough, and of course recalled their meeting in the queen's castle and was immediately on her guard, confronting him openly about his presence in Storybrooke and he was guessing that the crocodile had already briefed her with their history, but Killian had kept a low profile and hadn't said or done anything to make her think he was up to something or was otherwise dangerous to her, so although she was ever-vigilant and very wary of the pirate, she didn't kick up a fuss.

He looked back down at his book but then sighed with boredom. He'd lately been pondering if he should have Belle (a little bit of friendliness with the woman surely couldn't be a bad thing for him in the long run) or possibly someone else teach him how to use one of the library's computers, but it looked tedious and he so far hadn't seen anything so remarkably thrilling that it would help use up very much of his free time anyway.

Think. What he really needed to do right now was think, but he was so tired of thinking that he was no longer sure which of his many dilemmas he needed to think about the most. He settled for thinking on each issue and separating them, then ranking them on a scale of urgency.

Okay, problem A was obviously Rumpelstiltskin. He had to find a way to carry out his vengeance or die trying. Of course, this was a problem that required a copious amount of thought, and therefore every other problem he had would have to be postponed indefinitely.

He hated to admit it, but perhaps - _perhaps_ - Rumpelstiltskin should not be his number one priority.

Problem B was the girl. She wasn't an issue right now, but his luck could run out right at this moment just as easily as it could run out three months or a year from now. Although Rumpelstiltskin was just as unpredictable as the girl's memories were, he decided that problem B could no doubt make problem A a lot worse.

_Deal with the girl, then start on the crocodile. _He thought.

There was something else. Some unidentified problem C... it was nagging at the back of his mind but he couldn't put a name to it.

There was a gentle _swoosh-swoosh_ noise when the front door slid back and forth across the carpeting as it was pushed open and swung itself shut again. Killian's gaze swept across the room, but he couldn't make out who was coming in from his place between the aisles of books. He was curious to know who had disturbed his almost-solitude, but not so curious that he wanted to stand up and walk from one end of the library to the other to find out. Killian wasn't a patient man by nature, but after Milah died he'd become extremely good at lying in wait in order to get what he wanted. So he just sat and did what he'd eventually become very good at doing - he waited.

"Well, hello there," Belle's voice rang out. Last time Killian had checked, libraries were places where one was expected to be quiet so as not to disturb the patrons. Either Belle had noticed that he was not terribly involved or she was not yet thinking highly enough of him to consider him worthy of the usual protocol.

"Um... hi."

He should have known, damn it. He should have known that with her intense curiosity she'd end up in every place possible, including here. He also should have never underestimated her ability to find him, even when she might not even be looking.

Everyone has their own peculiar way of saying things, and some were distinctive enough to be honed in on and recognized at the drop of a hat. Such was the case here. Killian recognized the 'um' as her signature 'I'm trying to think of the right thing to say' and the 'hi' as her 'I haven't thought of anything better to say' greeting.

"You go ahead and let me know if you need help finding anything," Belle responded.

"Mkay..."

He wanted to run away, to stand up, to turn and leave before she noticed him. He could escape the uncomfortable questions and slip away without anyone noticing.

He sprang quietly to his feet, tiptoeing down the aisle between two of the shelves and slipping into the next one. He'd left the book on the table, knowing Belle would be irritated and would no doubt confront him for it next time. _"If you're not going to borrow it, have some courtesy and put it back, Killian!" _Hook knew that it wasn't that she minded putting the books back as much as it was that she simply didn't like _anything_ he did.

Oh well, an irritated librarian was the least of his worries.

Step by step, he hastened down the rows of shelves, carefully dodging any places where he might be exposed. He was an arm's length away from the door when:

"Killian, right?"

He froze, hand still outstretched to grab the door handle. He considered ignoring her, just bolting out the door and avoiding a very awkward conversation. No, too late. He'd already stopped dead in his tracks, leaving would be both suspicious and rude.

He turned, slowly, and made sure to gain control of his body language so she wouldn't notice his discomfort.

"Yes," He replied slowly. "If I remember correctly, you were introduced to me as Sophie?"

"Yeah... hi."

He was going to have to deal with this one way or another. This girl was an unforeseen complication that could become quite a problem given the right circumstances, and she was not making things any easier by naively hanging around town where they could constantly bump into each other like this.

"I'm guessing Emma is looking all over town for you," He said, breaking the moment of silence that had been hanging uncomfortably in the air. "What inspired the walkabout?"

"Just thought I'd take a look around," she replied casually.

He kept thinking that maybe, -maybe- this wasn't the same girl. She was some look-alike, some relative even. Then he'd look again, stare at those gray eyes and see a spark of recognition, and then any and all doubts about her identification were promptly dispensed with.

**.**

**. .**

**.**

_Killian stalked across the deck, slowly. He reached the edge of the ship, turned on his heel, and walked back to his starting point. Neverland was a far cry from dull, but after thoroughly exploring the island, interrogating most of the locals and getting ambushed by the lost boys on multiple occasions, most of the days were spent none too productively on the ship._

_Too long. It had been too long without a breakthrough._

You shouldn't have expected miracles_, his inner voice chided._

Well, that was kind of the point of coming here - to find a miracle.

Regardless, you should never expect to actually find one.

So encouraging.

Why are you here, Jones?

To get my vengeance.

Your vengeance? That's a little selfish-sounding. Wanting revenge on the man just because he took something away from you that you liked. You make it sound like Milah was a child's toy.

Milah was everything. I'm avenging her death for _her_. Nothing selfish about that. You know what I meant.

And pacing is helping you how?

I'm thinking - you're even less helpful.

I'm you - your more practical side, specifically. You should learn to stop arguing with me.

Practical as you may be, you are still not helping.

Pull yourself together, Jones. You're going mad.

_God damn it, he _was_ going mad. He halted mid-step, shaking his head and running a frustrated hand through his hair. He'd been spending too much time on this ship recently, and it was beginning to show._

_Peter Pan was becoming a greater nuisance by the day, and his attacks were actually becoming more intelligent and less easily foiled. The first few were nothing more than sporadic, disorganized rampages that were less a reason to fear for your life and more a reason to be late for an appointment, had Killian had one._

_Lately, they'd become more rational, more formulated. They weren't as childish and incompetent, and Hook was starting to worry about that. The latest of their attacks had landed three of his men bound and gagged and him nearly pushed over the side of a cliff. He'd been okay, but the fact that the pest and his band of juvenile delinquents were becoming more dangerous could be bad for him in the long run._

_He had stopped in the middle of the deck, so he finished his interrupted jaunt and stood at the edge of the ship, staring down at the water as if the answers would come from below._

_Sometimes just watching the water dancing around the hull soothed his mind enough for him to think better, but this time a disturbance in the waves caught his eye. He squinted at the sun reflecting off the water below, leaning forward to get a better look at whatever was moving below the surface._

_The dark shape stayed motionless for a while, then suddenly darted deeper into the shadows and out of sight. It could've been any number of things, Killian reasoned. The first thing that came to mind was a mermaid, but given that they and the pirates were not on the friendliest of terms, Killian doubted it very highly. It had moved quickly and had to be at least the size of a small person. A number of creatures came to mind, some of them common to the other lands but also a few nasty ones that were rumored to haunt only Neverland's waters. He'd make a mental note of reminding the girl to be careful in case she did as usual and dived in for one reason or another._

_It appeared again, a bit further off but closer to the surface. What ever this thing was it was definitely curious, which alluded intelligence, giving credit to the mermaid theory. He felt a bit silly, but he decided that if it was a mermaid it would be rude to simply stare and not acknowledge them properly, so he lifted his hand to wave good-naturedly._

_Nothing happened for a few moments, and Hook began to think that maybe it was just a large fish and he'd simply managed to shoo it off. Just before Killian stepped away from the rail, the creature moved, bobbing a head of red hair to the surface._

_Well, that explained it then. It was a mermaid, but it was one he'd never actually seen before now. Perhaps she wasn't aware of the tension that had been raised between her people and the pirates._

_She swam closer the the ship, placing a hand against the hull and looking up at him curiously._

_"Captain Hook?" She called._

Ah, it speaks._ He thought._

_"That would depend upon who's looking for him," He called back. Smee and a few other crew members had begun collecting at the rail beside him, curiously peering over the edge at their visitor._

_"This isn't a conversation appropriate for screaming," She yelled. "Can you pull me up there?"_

_Killian hesitated, pressing his eyebrows together and running his hand across the back of his neck. He looked at Smee, who shrugged, then gestured for the men to start pulling the mermaid onto the ship._

_After they'd lifted her aboard and were getting her settled, Killian noticed that the other little female thing that had invaded his ship was mysteriously absent from the scene. In the back of his mind, he wondered where she was and what she was doing, but brushed the thoughts aside to focus on their guest._

_The mermaid had perched herself on the ship's railing, probably feeling safer knowing she could dive into the water easily. Killian strode over to her side._

_"Captain," She addressed him formally._

_"Afternoon, love," Killian responded informally. "You've made it apparent that you know who I am, but I still don't know who you are or why you're on my ship."_

_"What is that thing doing here?" A young voice declared, surprisingly brassy._

_"Someone grab her."_

_"Wha- let go! Put me down!"_

_"Apologies, little miss." One of the crewman holding her said._

_"Killian! Make them put me down!"_

_"Sorry love, we need this ship floating and with your influence, that's a little iffy."_

_"Killia-rmph!" Someone clapped a hand over Wendy's mouth while she continued to flail her legs._

_Killian turned back the the mermaid._

_"You have my deepest apology, ignore the child." He said. "You are?"_

_"My name is Ariel," She replied, giving Wendy and her captors a sideways glance before pulling her thick ruby-colored tresses behind her shoulders. "I just recently returned to Neverland... from your old land."_

_"Alright, I'm listening," If nothing else, Killian was curious about the mermaid's travels._

_"I heard a few stories about you," she said. "I wanted to see if they were true."_

_"Oh really?" Killian asked. "What kind of stories?"_

_"I heard how long ago the Dark One cut off your hand, that's how you came to have the hook. The sailors I spoke to said that you had been willing to battle the Dark One face to face, something few would do with his powers."_

_"The fact that my escapades with that crocodile have become somewhat legendary are flattering, love, but it wasn't all that long ago." Killian paused._

_How long had he been here, exactly? Milah had died, and it had been a couple of days before her burial at sea. Then they'd come here, but had ended up in the middle of the ocean. It had taken them a while to reach the island... a matter of weeks. Two months, maybe. Yes, that seemed right. They'd picked up the girl just a day or so after they'd reached land. How long had the brat been around? He couldn't remember exactly, it was difficult to keep time here in Neverland. Several weeks, it seemed. Longer, even... Smee would know. Smee kept track of the sort of thing. He would ask him later._

_"Oh, but it has been!" Ariel replied. "Didn't you know?"_

_"Know what?"_

_"Time runs so differently here in Neverland," She continued. "You've been gone for a little less than three hundred years!"_

_Killian's eyebrows creased together once again and his eyes widened. Smee began a coughing fit. A few of the other men began to talk in hushed tones amongst themselves._

_"Aye, she's lyin' through her fish teeth!" someone cried._

_Killian held up a hand to silence the men._

_"That's not possible," Killian replied. "Smee, how long have we been here?"_

_"Oh, uh," Smee stuttered. "Let me think now... two, three... three, three... over five... no, just less than six months, captain."_

_"Ah, see?" Killian replied, drawing his sword. "Three-hundred years-"_

_"Less then three-hundred years!" Ariel snapped. "And it's true-" She stopped when Killian rested the tip of his sword against her collar bone. "It's true," she repeated, softly this time. "I can prove it to you,"_

_Killian scoffed._

_"How?"_

_"I can take you back, you can see for yourself," Ariel breathed. She glanced behind her, at the water, considering the option of fleeing._

_"Tell me," Killian said. "How did you leave Neverland?"_

_"I just made a portal," She replied, giving him a look that suggested that she'd done nothing out of the ordinary. Killian paused, analyzing the mermaid's features, searching for the lie._

_"How?"_

_"Are you pirates all this obtuse?" She replied. "Anyone can make a portal."_

_"You're telling me you can make a portal? With magic?"_

_"Of course I can!" She said. "Can't you?"_

_"That's none of your business," Killian said. "Pan, is that how he comes and goes as he pleases?"_

_"Yes... Well, he can't actually make a portal. He just barters with the mermaids for pearls."_

_"Pearls?"_

_"Yes, we enchant the pearls so that anyone can open a portal with one." Killian lifted his sword away from her person._

_"Fascinating..." Killian said slowly. So the mermaids had the ability to make portals. What other magical secrets did they know?_

_"I could get you some," The mermaid offered, clearly seeing the interested expression on his face._

_"My interest in doing business with you for a portal would be rather limited," Killian said._

_"Limited?"_

_"Yes. You see I wouldn't be interested in leaving Neverland unless I knew for a fact that I was going to be able to get what I wanted," He explained._

_"Meaning?" The mermaid watched Killian's expression as he hesitated._

_"What do you know about Rumpelstiltskin?"_

_"The Dark One?" She asked. "Not terribly much..."_

_Killian saw the glimmer in her eyes as she spoke, and he stepped closer._

_"Just tell me what you _do_ know."_

_"Well, I may know_ something,_" She said slowly. "Something about a girl."_

**_._**

**_. ._**

**_._**

Emma sped around the block, eyes frantically scanning the sidewalks for any sign of a small teenager wearing jeans and a lime green t-shirt a size too small.

Emma had noticed that immediately. She'd noticed it, and it bothered her. She recognized without hesitation that someone had been appointed the duty of caring for a young girl and had not even bothered to make sure that the kid had clothing that fit properly. It was small things like that which made Emma angry at the world. Clothing was a basic survival need and there were people out there who decided that certain children weren't important enough to have their clothing be a priority. Sophie was a damn person - she had emotions, opinions, a heart and a mind but she had been tossed around like nothing more than a pawn in some custody game.

Chill, Ems. she thought. This wasn't the time to go off on a the-system's-an-ass tirade.

She was supposed to be focusing. She was supposed to be looking for Sophie!

As she rolled past the library, she could have sworn she'd spotted someone in the window matching the description of her quarry.

Emma hit the brakes, almost causing the car behind hers to plow into her backside. She apologized loudly, knowing that the other driver couldn't hear her but feeling a lot better for it anyway. She pulled over to the curb and jogged to the front door, swinging it open and marching inside, eyes darting around the room for her fugitive.

"Can I help you?"

"Oh, um," Emma breathed. She'd never seen the person who'd addressed her, but had heard all about the library opening. "You must be... Belle?"

"Yes, hi," the brunette answered. "Are you Emma?"

"Yeah, but uh," she replied. "I hate to ruin a perfectly pleasant introduction, but did a girl come in here?"

"Petite, long hair?" Belle replied.

"That's her."

"She's near the back," Belle pointed. "Nice meeting you."

"Yeah, you too..." Emma was already power-walking towards the rear portion of the library. When she reached the end of the building, she turned a corner and nearly trampled someone who was sitting on the floor, multiple books scattered around them.

"Oh, stalking me now, are we?"

"God, Killian, you scared the piss out of me!"

"Apologies." He said, glancing back down at his book. He was leaning against one bookshelf, one ankle crossed over the other, effectively barricading the path between the two shelves with his legs.

"Have you seen Sophie?"

"Who?"

"The kid, Hook! The kid!"

"You really need to start giving out more distinctive and official nicknames," he replied, his eyes darting back up to meet hers. "Last I knew, Henry was 'the kid' and Sophie was 'the girl'."

"Yours is going to be 'the pirate in pain' if you don't answer me."

"Always so violent, Swan," He replied with smirk. He hadn't bothered to stand up. He looked back down at the book in his lap.

"Hook..."

He didn't reply, but looked back up at her before jerking his head in the direction of the shelf behind him.

"Thank you," she said curtly. Emma spun on her heels and was on the other side of the shelf in a second. "Sophie?"

"Oh, hi."

"Don't disappear like that!" Emma said. "You had me worried you skipped town."

Sophie raised one eyebrow questioningly.

"Why'd I do that?" she replied. "Not like I'm in a hurry to go home."

"Still, don't do that," Emma said. "Come on, I have to go by the station to pick up a few things and after that I say you and me go to lunch at Granny's."

**.**

**. .**

**.**

_"Absolutely no."_

_"But Killian!"_

_"If I remember correctly, you have a very strong distaste for mer-people anyway,"_

_"They're half human, half fish. It's weird. Nothing should ever be two things, it's not natural."_

_He kept walking, the brat following closely behind. He wasn't going to deal with this on a day like today._

_Today was an important day. Ariel had arranged to meet Killian in the mermaid caverns - a series of underwater caves and tunnels that the mer-folk inhabited - in order to discuss the matter of magical pearls and whatever information she could give him on Rumpelstiltskin. In return, all she'd asked for were a few trifles: He'd answer a few of her questions regarding humans, bring along a few sparkly items as payment for the pearls and he was one step closer to his goal._

_So yes, today was an important day and he was not going to let her get away with any shenanigans. She had orders to stay on the ship, and she was having none of it. Well, he'd show her this time. She may have been winning many a battle as of lately, but this time she was going to do_

_exactly as he said and he didn't care how much she complained or what she threatened to catch on fire._

_"My mind is beyond changing. You're not getting anywhere near the caverns and if you have any grievances, go complain elsewhere because I don't want to hear about them."_

_Wendy balled her hands into fists at her sides and continued to march after him._

_"I swear, I'll keep my mouth shut! I won't say anything, I won't do anything..."_

_"You'll just silently tag along and look innocent?"_

_"Yes!"_

_"Like you silently tagged along the other day?"_

_"She was flying around my head like a gnat! The little freak had it coming," Wendy replied haughtily. Killian held back a laugh. Her spirited outbursts were nothing if not exhausting, but it was kind of comical how she could so quickly and curtly defend her point of view while most girls her age had been taught that silent obedience was a virtue._

_"Regardless, you woke up every pixie in the woods and single-handedly managed to get the crew scattering like rodents."_

_"Not quite single-handed, you panicked too."_

_"Did not," He defended._

_"Did so!"_

_He was about to come back with 'did not' again, but he shook his head to push the juvenile response from his thoughts and instead decided to win the matter in a more mature fashion._

_"It doesn't matter what I did or didn't do yesterday, you're not coming with me so you can stop bickering."_

_"That's really rich - you telling me to stop bickering when you started this argument!" She protested._

_"All I said was that I was going somewhere and that you were staying here," Hook replied._

_"Exactly! You started the argument!"_

_Killian could think on at least half a dozen ways to respond to this, most of them satisfactory but not very productive to his 'be assertive' campaign._

_"Well, now I am finishing it. You stay, I go. Case closed, end of story, we all live happily ever after."_

_"Ugh! Why?"_

_"I've told you why," Killian sighed. "And that's me being a gentleman. I could have just as easily said 'because I said so', but I find that repressive, evasive, and rather unimaginative."_

_"But-"_

_"No."_

_Wendy huffed and marched away, long golden waves trailing out behind her when the breeze hit them. The mass of matted brown locks was now in far better shape than it had been previously; combed smooth they reached past her waist and fell in soft ripples around her torso. _

_The faded blue nightgown had all but disappeared, and had been replaced by a pair of very small trousers (small, but still large enough for her to have to roll them up several times at the bottom) and a man's shirt (one which Killian was sure he'd been looking for recently) that she was just able to get by with wearing because she'd pushed the sleeves up to her elbows. She still went around barefoot, which bothered Killian to a certain extent seeing as he would never walk around in his bare feet, but he guessed small females were different because she didn't seem to mind at all._

_Over the weeks Hook had resigned himself to the fact that she was going to be a permanent fixture on his ship whether he liked the idea or not. At first, he hadn't cared one way or another what happened. Bringing her aboard was prompted by curiosity, maybe pity, but nothing more. It had nothing to do with the fact that she was maybe the one person who was able to distract him from the constant aching in his chest._

_Milah had lost her heart, yet he felt as if it was his own that had been ripped from his chest. The hollow, empty feeling was always there. Regardless of how fast he ran, or how hard he fought, he could never make his heart beat fast enough to fill the emptiness he felt there. It was like a hole had been carved from his very core and here he was, walking around with a piece of him missing._

_It was missing and it was never coming back. It -_

_she - was gone._

_His friend._

_His strength._

_His love._

_She was gone, damn it, and there was nothing he could do to bring her back. He had nothing left but the faint hope of vengeance, and he ran the risk of spoiling a chance of getting closer to that vengeance if he let the little she-beast get in the way._

_His mind was trying to dissect the reasons why the girl was able to do what she did to him. Why was she able to momentarily fill that gap and find all sorts of vulnerable places?_

_Then, like a wave against a rock, it hit him:_

_She was just like her._

_That, he decided, was the reason he couldn't have her around when he was on important business. She exposed the tender places, showed his weaknesses. He couldn't have any weakness._

_He was suddenly irritated, irritated that he was irritated and not happy that he'd just won the battle of wills._

_He forced himself to relax, not realizing that his jaw was clenched and his muscles were tensed._

_He had to keep his head. Today was important._

**_._**

**_. ._**

**_._**

**A/N: Well there you have it! If you reviewed, I'd like to give you a very sincere thanks! It really helps to have the feedback. That way I know, "Okay, I need to clarify that or spend more time on this, or I should write a scene about how that happened..."**

**So thank you guys SO much and remember that constructive criticism or any other means of critiquing is always appreciated!**

**You should also know that I am very proud of myself. I'm one of the worst when it comes to writing, mostly because I'll have a great idea, start on it, write a chapter and a half and then it never sees the light of day again. Four chapters is a HUGE deal for me, and it happened because you guys gave me the motivation to push myself and keep working on this! *hugs***

**I am *SO* freaking sorry this took so long! My brain was being a little butt, and also I started this story before I discovered the wonders of Tumblr...**

**Not making any promises about chapter five, just because I have a crap-ton of schoolwork to finish and that is going to take up lots of my free time, plus I got a job. :) Just saying that it may be a bit slow, but will most definitely come!**


	5. A Way Back

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Once Upon a Time. I do, however, own an iPod named Aquata and a phone named Dexter.**

**Don't judge me.**

**_._**

**_. ._**

**_._**

_Killian stepped off the small rowboat and onto the rocky ledge, securing the boat in place and standing quietly outside the mouth of the cave while the familiar head of red hair emerged from the water that was just a foot or so below him._

_It hadn't been easy to escape the _Rodger_ unscathed, but he'd done it nonetheless. He had to endure a great deal of protesting, twice as much pleading as he'd expected and for a few very uncomfortable moments, Wendy had planted herself in the small boat, delaying his departure and insisting he see it her way._

_He'd won, though. He was here and besides the scarlet-tressed mermaid below him, he was alone._

_"Morning!" she greeted brightly. Ariel was turning out to be almost as bad as Wendy when it came to enthusiasm, but was definitely less scatterbrained than the other mermaids he'd met._

_There was something about Neverland that toyed with one's mind. Pan, for instance, could have been labeled a good candidate for an asylum a few weeks ago, but lately he seemed to be thinking more clearly. The air-headed little git had been replaced with a more mature, rational person._

_Wendy had explained that it had something to do with the other lands: the more time Peter spent away from Neverland, the more his judgement cleared. Killian guessed that because Ariel was often adventuring in foreign realms, her thoughts were less cloudy than those of her peers._

_"Morning," Killian greeted blankly. He wasn't in the mood for theatrics and he had no reason to make the girl exceptionally fond of him, so he thought it best to keep the pleasantries to a minimum._

_"Follow me," she said, swimming inside. "There's light, and a path you can walk on. It goes all the way down to where we hold council. Walk quickly, though. It's only exposed at low tide. We have time but you don't want to be caught inside when the water rises."_

_Killian pulled the bag of assorted valuables he'd brought along over his shoulder and followed the path that had been carved from the stone walls, winding further and further into the cave after the red-haired siren until the narrow passage opened into a larger space, ending the tunnel abruptly._

_"There's no one here," Killian stated._

_"I know," Ariel replied. "That's the idea."_

_"Pardon?"_

_"The others... They don't care much for most humans. Particularly not pirates. They're all out looking for treasure or playing with the pixies or something. I had to get you here while they were gone."_

_Killian glanced down at the cave floor. There was a bigger drop here from where he was standing, and unlike the empty passageways before, this room was lined with every object known to man. Killian then realized that by 'treasure' Ariel had meant anything they thought was interesting-looking. There were a few gems or coins here and there, but for the most part it was just junk._

_"We have pearls that have been enchanted. They can take you to any realm you desire, all you have to do is break it open."_

_"And if I wanted to take my ship with me?"_

_"Just break it on your ship, and make sure whoever you want to bring with you is on board."_

_"Fascinating," Killian replied. "Now about Rumpelstiltskin-"_

_"What's it worth?" she asked._

_Killian reached into his bag and extracted a large green gem._

_Ariel took it with both hands, turning it over and studying it from all angles._

_"Okay, I'll tell you what I know." She said, adjusting her sitting position to get more comfortable. "Now mind you, I don't know the details of everything. Most of what I hear comes from the people at the ports, and half the time they're too drunk to remember what they told me."_

_"Drunken ramblings are often more informative than the edited sober versions," Killian replied. "What was this about a girl?"_

_"Apparently, he made some deal with this man, Maurice. The man wanted Rumpelstiltskin to protect his town from the ogres or something, and as part of the deal the Dark One took his daughter. Kind of odd if you ask me," Ariel paused. "Anyway, I don't know exactly what happened. But from what I could gather, she was there for a long time before she left his castle and disappeared."_

_"I'm not seeing how this is supposed to be even remotely helpful to me." Hook said slowly._

_"I'm not done yet," Ariel replied, still stroking the gem. "The queen was riding with a large company back to her castle, though no one seemed to know where she'd gone or why she'd left in the first place. They came straight through a little seaside town I happened to be around, and they had a prisoner of some sort. I got as close as I could. - I didn't see much - but someone yelled, 'She's got Belle!'_

_"I remembered that name from the stories I'd heard about the girl that left Rumpelstiltskin's castle, and I knew something was going on when the queen vaporized whoever had called out."_

_"So you're saying that the girl is in all likelihood a prisoner in the queen's palace?"_

_"I'm saying that you want revenge on someone who supposedly can't be killed. Magic always has some catch - there must be a way to destroy him. If anyone is going to know about his secrets, it's that girl."_

_Killian was quiet for a long time while he thought. If the mermaid was telling the truth, all he had to do was get to the girl._

_"One question," he said slowly._

_"Yes?"_

_"Why are you telling me this?" he asked. "Surely this is far too large an affair to be worth nothing more than a sparkly rock."_

_Ariel hesitated, refusing to meet his gaze for a long time._

_"I made a deal with him once," she said, almost whispering. "It didn't end well."_

**.**

**. .**

**.**

No one in Granny's recognized her.

Emma wasn't sure what that meant, exactly. Was it a good thing? A bad thing?

A part of her had been hoping that someone in town would know her. If that had been the case, they would have solved the mystery and taken her off of Emma's hands.

If Sophie was an outsider, then that meant Emma (and she other townspeople, she guessed) would have to make a series of difficult decisions. Emma had already ruled out the idea of sending her back to where she came from. Five more years in the system? Her last poster parents had been enough to make her run away from home. There'd be investigations and who knew where she'd end up... Emma couldn't knowingly do that to her.

They could just keep her, Emma rationalized. Emma had learned (or was still learning) to adjust to life with a bunch of make-believe characters after being in this land for twenty-eight years. Why couldn't Sophie?

Sophie was currently polishing off the rest of the fries on her plate, perfectly content with what was transpiring. Normal kids would be weirded out, but Sophie was obviously not a normal child. She'd learned to live in moment, and at this moment she had just been bought a good meal and was accompanied by an adult who although asked a lot of questions, treated her nicely. Most adults would be more overbearing - trying to find her parents or some other form of authority that would put Sophie back where she belonged.

Emma hadn't mentioned custody or group homes or any other of the terms she was used to hearing from adults. Sophie hadn't really brought up the topic of what Emma was going to do with her until they'd sat down in the diner, and was extremely pleased when she didn't get a disheartening "We'll just wait and see what happens", which usually meant that there would be more temporary accommodations, more not-knowing, and more strange people that didn't gave a damn.

No, this time she got a "Well kid, I'm not sending you somewhere you don't want to go. We don't know for sure yet, but you're going to stay here with me until we figure out what'll be permanent. You don't need to get tossed around any more than is necessary."

In Sophie's mind, Emma was a good adult. Emma was on her side.

Ruby was nice, too. Ruby had smiled and asked only friendly questions, not the "Oh my God, you were all by yourself? What do those social workers do all day?" type of questions she was used to. They were just friendly inquiries that held no implication that she was in trouble or in danger of another relocation.

"Almost finished?" Emma asked.

Sophie took one last sip of her soda, then nodded.

"We'll see you later Ruby," Emma said, hopping off of her bar stool. Sophie followed suit.

"Where are we going now?" She asked, following Emma out the glass door and towards her car.

"Well, we're going to go pick my son Henry," She replied.

"From?"

"From his... Other mom's place."

"Other mom?"

"It's complicated."

"Okay." Sophie slid into the front seat. Emma thought she'd be pestered for further information, but apparently multiple mothers was a familiar topic and one that Sophie wasn't interested in.

When Emma pulled over in front of Regina's house, Sophie whistled.

"Fan-_cy_."

"Yeah, she's got a nice place alright." Emma answered. Henry was already coming out the door when Emma unbuckled her seat belt. She reached for the door handle, but then stopped herself. She waited for Henry to climb into the back seat.

"Hey mom!" He said cheerily.

"Hey kid," She replied. "This is Sophie,"

"Hi!"

"Hey."

"She's gonna be staying at my place for a while, so you two can get introduced while I talk to Regina for a minute."

"Okay."

She felt confidant that Sophie wouldn't disappear again as long as Henry was in the car.

On a normal day, Emma would have counted the fact the Henry had come out to the car and she didn't have to talk to Regina as a blessing, but today she needed to see the woman.

Emma covered the distance between her car and Regina's front door at a jog, and just as she reached up to knock on the door it opened. Regina must have been watching them leave.

"Sheriff Swan," Regina said flatly.

"Regina... Hi."

"Is something wrong?"

"No, not exactly," Emma replied. "But something happened and I need to talk to you."

"What about?"

"You see the girl in the car?" Regina leaned to look over Emma's shoulder at the yellow Volkswagen.

"Yes, who is she?"

"I was kind of hoping you would know," Emma said. "She came into town yesterday, and I think she might have come here with the curse."

"Well, here's and idea, Swan, why don't you ask her?"

"Because she fell off of a boat yesterday and Dr. Whale thinks she has amnesia."

"So you think she's forgotten her memories of the old land," Regina replied. Emma nodded.

"Strangers can't get into Storybrooke, right?"

"Not for any length of time. How long has she been here?"

"A day and a half?" Emma said. Regina paused, raising one eyebrow.

"Well, that's longer than I would think she'd be able to stay. But remember Emma, the curse is broken. That could mean that the part of the curse which kept people away from Storybrooke isn't there anymore. "

"So she could be from the outside and we'd never know it?"

"It's possible," Regina stated. "What makes you think that she's from our land?"

"I just have this feeling... plus Whale is convinced that she's got some kind of brain damage and can't possibly remember everything the way she seems to. And then Killian was being all weird..."

"Where is Hook, anyway?" Regina asked.

"Keeping a low profile."

"Smart man."

"While I'm here," Emma said, intent of changing the subject. "You know anything about bringing back memories?"

"You mean with magic?" Regina quipped. "Not really. Not what you'd need. I think I could bring back certain things, but only if we already know which memories to bring back. Bringing back an entire lifetime of memories is almost impossible because you don't know every memory that the person has."

"Great."

"Talk to Gold," Regina continued. "He might know something I don't."

"Thanks... I think."

**.**

**. .**

**.**

_By this time, the water was slowly beginning to rise. It started nearly a foot lower than the ledge Killian stood upon, but during his chat with the mermaid it had risen to be level with his feet._

_"Here," Ariel said, sliding back into the water. "I'll get you a pearl."_

_"It was a pleasure doing business with you," Hook said. "I think it'd be smart of me to be going or else I'll be swimming out of here."_

_"Yes, you'd be surprised how quickly the water rises when the tide comes," She dove underwater, towards the piles of stuff that had been collected there. Some of it had been exposed to the air when he'd first entered, but now the entire bottom of the cave was submerged. Ariel reappeared, with a white pearl around the size of a walnut grasped in her palm. She held it out to him, but retracted her hand again. "Let me explain how it works a little more. These pearls are two-way. Like I said before, you just crush it on your ship and you and anything and everyone on it will be taken back to the other land. When you get there, the pearl will have healed itself. It will be somewhere on your ship, ready to be broken once more. When you break it the second time, it will bring you back to Neverland - _only_ back to Neverland. It can't take you anywhere else."_

_"I understand. May I have-" Killian stopped when Ariel flinched, letting out a small squeak of surprise. "Something wrong?"_

_"Oh dear, we're in trouble." She said. She tossed him the pearl, which he caught in his good hand. He was bout to ask her what was wrong when a shape darted through the water towards them. Killian quickly pocketed the item._

_The other mermaid surfaced._

_"What is he doing here?" The blonde siren demanded. "Did he hurt you?"_

_"No no, he's just-"_

_Two more mermaids appeared, one of them glaring silently while the other raised her voice._

_"Ariel, how stupid are you?" She screeched. "Bringing him in here... what's wrong with you?"_

_"Attina-"_

_By this time the water had risen to just above Killian's knees. He slowly edged away from the four mermaids, upon a subtle nod from Ariel. These three were occupied enough for him to slip out of the large cave and into the tunnel, where he swiftly splashed his way towards where he'd find his boat._

_The water was still rising, and Killian's progress was stunted by having to wade along the path. By the looks of the cave, it looked like the water would get high enough to fill the tunnel, in which case it'd be all to easy to get trapped and drown. He could see the light of the opening now, much smaller than in had been previously due the the water's new depth. His that had been securing his boat was not acting at an anchor. Much longer and it would be pulled under the water, which was waist-high when another shape approached him. Killian cursed silently to himself when the new mermaid burst through the surface._

_"Hey!" The brunette cried. "What are you doing in- HOOK!" she gasped._

_Out of thin air, a stream of water hit Killian squarely in the face, strong enough to knock him backwards into the stone wall._

_"That's what happens when you hurt our friends and insult us!" She cried._

_"Friends?" Killian hissed, clutching the back of his head with his hand._

_"Peter Pan happens to be a close, personal friend of ours!" She snapped. Another stream of water hit him, this time in the chest, knocking him over and off the path, into the deep part of the tunnel. The sting of the blow stunned him enough that he stayed very still under the water for a few moments before kicking towards the surface. When he felt the warm air hit his face, he gasped in a breath and began looking around for his attacker._

_The brunette had moved to block the way to the tunnel's entrance, and Killian groped madly for his cutlass. He wasn't sure how much help it would be underwater, but he needed something to defend himself with. He tried to swim towards the ledge - at least he'd have something under his feet - but the mermaid motioned with her hands, creating a wave that tumbled him to the other side. Again, Killian kicked for the surface, but she had turned the water around him into a tumultuous circle of white water. It dragged him left, then right, then down, then scraped him across the ragged tunnel wall. Killian struggled to swim to the surface, but his screaming lungs couldn't help propel him out of the bedlam. His sword was long gone, it had slipped from his grip some time ago._

_He wasn't sure how much longer he could fight to reach the surface, and the lack of air in his lungs was begging him to panic._

_Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the water became still._

_He burst into the air above him, his gasping one of the deepest breaths he'd ever taken. He whipped his head around, looking for his assailant and wondering why she'd stopped her assault._

_He saw her some distance away, clutching her face with both hands and crying out._

_"...little brat!"_

_"Killian!"_

_"Wendy?"_

_"Come on, the water's getting higher and more of them are going to show up!" Wendy was treading water, supporting herself against the tunnel's wall. And she was right - the water had risen to leave only a foot or so between the water's surface and the roof of the cave, and Killian's boat was long gone._

_She grabbed a fistful of his coat sleeve, pulling him in the direction of the tunnel's entrance. When they were out in the open, they began climbing up the slippery rocks that made up the tunnels. They were far more covered than they had been the last time Killian had seen them, but they'd be able to use them as a means to get to shore. When they were safely out of reach of any more angry sirens, the pair collapsed onto the rocks._

_"And now you know why I don't like mermaids." She panted. "See? I told you to take me with you."_

_"Yes, remind me next time I go on an adventure to take a small girl with me for protection," He said between labored breaths._

_"Not any small girl, just me," She replied, wringing out her hair. "And by the way, I think a thanks is in order."_

_Killian was still trying to catch his breath, but he chuckled softly to himself before shaking his head._

_"Right you are, lass," He said. "Thank you, even though you did exactly the opposite of what I said."_

_"Yeah, sorry about that." She said slowly._

_"And while we're on the subject, how exactly did you get here?"_

_"I took the long way around," She replied. "Swam to shore. Walked all the way around, then came out this way. It took forever, but I got here just in time, apparently."_

_"What did you do to her?" Killian asked._

_"That mermaid? I didn't really have anything, so I just took my best shot with a rock. It hit her in the face. Maybe now you'll teach me how to use a sword," Wendy said. "Did you get what you went in for?"_

_"Indeed I-" Killian paused. He reached into his coat pocket for the pearl, but found it missing. He should have expected as much, the way he'd been tossed around under the water like that. "Oh God, don't tell me it's gone..." He frisked his other pockets, but found nothing._

_"Oh, you mean this?" Wendy held out the pearl in her hand. "You dropped it back there."_

_Killian closed his eyes and sighed with relief._

_"You are bloody brilliant," He said, taking the pearl and returning it to its respective pocket._

_"What's it for?"_

_"You'll find out soon enough, darling. Now let's get back to the ship."_

**.**

**. .**

**.**

Emma had thought one child was exhausting.

Henry was actually the low-maintenance type of kid. He was easy-going, intellectual... He wasn't incredibly high-energy and was quiet and well-mannered.

Sophie was his opposite in every way.

She was there one moment and gone the next. She was easily amused but had the attention span of a goldfish, and if Emma managed to find an activity that would keep her occupied for more than ten minutes she'd thank God for the peace. Sophie would be watching TV with no sign of going anywhere, then Emma would get a text message and by the time she looked up from her phone the girl would be gone, off in another room with an electronic device and a kitchen knife.

She was also voracious. Even after her large lunch Emma had ended up providing her with so many snacks before dinner that she was sure that part of the girl's small size was due to malnutrition. She expected that the girl was naturally petite, and hey, some kids just stay skinny, but the way she could down food made Emma suspect that there was more to it.

The rest of the afternoon had been interesting. Sophie and Henry got along well despite the small age difference (Henry was wise beyond his years and Sophie's maturity level wavered back and forth between a twenty-something and a six year-old, so Emma assumed that she could get along with just about any age of kid), and when Emma had accompanied them to the park in the hopes that a little physical activity would burn off some of Sophie's seemingly endless energy, they'd gone off and entertained themselves, Emma watching carefully for any signs that Sophie's antics were not causing any complications with her head injury.

By the time evening rolled around they were back in the apartment. David and Mary-Margaret had found another place, mostly at Mary-Margaret's prompting. She had insisted that Emma needed her own space, and to be perfectly honest Emma hadn't been overly keen on having her parents so... _there_.

It was after dinner when Sophie and Henry were having an apparently very intense game of Crazy Eights that there was a knock at the door. Emma reluctantly moved from her spot on the couch and opened the door, not terribly surprised to find Mary-Margaret's smiling form there.

"Emma, hi. I know it's late but..."

"I knew you wouldn't be able to stay away." Emma said.

"Come on, Emma. Everyone's dying to know."

"Come sit down," Emma suggested.

"Wait, can I put this one down?"

"Um... no. Wait, yes. Or no, because it's not a spade."

"But it's a seven."

"So? It's Crazy Eights, not Crazy Sevens."

"There's already a seven down there!"

"Oh... then yeah put it down."

"Glad to see they're getting along," Mary-Margaret said, laughing lightly.

"Yeah..." Emma replied. "I don't know what I'm going to do with her tomorrow, though. I mean Henry goes to school but I guess she's just gonna have to hang around with me all day."

"I could keep an eye on her for a while," Mary-Margaret offered. "David won't mind, he loves kids."

"That would be amazing," Emma said. "She'd get pretty bored hanging around the station all day, and from what I've seen so far, bored Sophie is dangerous Sophie."

"I see," Mary-Margaret replied. "Anyway, did anyone say anything today?"

"No," Emma replied ruefully. "No one I talked to today has ever seen her before. I actually asked Regina about magically restoring her memories,"

"What did she say?"

"She told me to talk to Gold. I'd rather not, but I guess I'll have to."

"If you do, please be careful."

"Yeah, I will," Emma replied.

**.**

**. .**

**.**

**A/N: I'd like to give a shout-out to AvaMckinny! Your reviews were so exciting that I literally had to take a break from reading them to jump around a little bit. XD I am a teen, so the teen-y writing style probably stems from that, LOL. I didn't have time to edit this the other day, but I wanted to get it up so I just posted it. I think I fixed most of the mistakes now, let me know if you see any in this chapter or in any of the others.**


	6. Mr Concerned

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Once Upon a Time.**

**If I did this fic would be on screen.**

**But it's not.**

**So clearly I don't.**

**R&R**

**.**

**. .**

**.**

Dressing the exceptionally petite thirteen year-old initiated a small adventure into the corners of Emma's closet that had been long forgotten about. Emma had piles of stuff that she hadn't touched in a long time (She'd been telling herself for the past few weeks to sort through it and give the unwanted items away, luckily for Sophie she had procrastinated), and had enough extra clothing to sustain Sophie's wardrobe as well as her own.

She'd picked out a pair of jeans that although were too small for Emma, were still too big for Sophie but they were able to make them work. A few t-shirts later, Sophie had picked out a pale blue floral top and a thick navy sweatshirt to block against the chilly Maine air. Her sneakers were in surprisingly good shape, much to Emma's relief, seeing as Sophie seemed to have very small feet to go along with the rest of her and Emma wouldn't have had anything even remotely close to the right size.

They left early to drop Henry off at school, then met Mary-Margaret at the police station. Sophie was content to hang around another of these fun adults all day, and it gave Emma a good opportunity to get a few things done around the station before she went to visit Gold.

Or so she thought.

She had just sat down at her desk to go over a few papers and finish her coffee when, as per usual:

"Morning princess!"

"Hook." She acknowledged him blankly.

"Ever the charming _femme fatale_, aren't we?"

"Damn straight," Emma replied, disguising an amused smile. "Isn't it kind of early in the morning to be irritating the authority figures?"

"Irritate?" Killian said, stepping backwards as if he'd received a blow. "To think that I thought you and I were becoming friends, Swan..."

"I don't know Killian, I might like you better if you told me everything you know about Sophie."

"Ah, but you see love, I have."

"Now you're just playing the technicality card," Emma said. She put down her pen and smirked up at him, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "You know something, I know you do!"

"Sorry, princess."

"I swear, if you do not cut the crap..."

"You'll what? Handcuff me to the wall?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I might."

"Not that I'd complain, as long as you promise to torture it out of me personally..."

Emma simply raised her eyebrows and blinked.

"You're hopeless."

"I've been called worse things than that, darling."

"I'm sure," Emma replied. "Anyway, I guess I never said thank you for the other day."

"What do you mean?"

"Things could have gone a lot worse if you hadn't insisted on tagging along," Emma began. "and I was kind of distracted yesterday when I saw you. So thanks."

"You're welcome," Killian replied. "And I can think of at least a dozen ways you can repay me..."

"Oh my God. Hopeless."

"So out of curiosity," Killian said as he pulled out the chair on the opposite side of Emma's desk. "Where is the scrawny little beast now?" He sat down and propped his feet on the edge of Emma's desk.

"With Mary-Margaret." Emma had resumed writing and didn't look up from her papers.

"Ah," Killian replied. "And what are we planning to do with her?"

"We have to figure out if she's an outsider or not," Emma responded. "I asked Regina what she knew about bringing back memories, she said to talk to Gold."

"Surely you ignored that advice?" Killian said it in a tone that implied he was telling her, not asking.

"No, actually. I'm going over there later, just to talk to him. If he wants me to do something crazy or he makes me suspicious I'll tell him no deals."

"Emma, you can't be serious."

"What? I just said if he wants me to-"

"Emma, the man is evil and clearly a little insane. You can't possibly think that asking him for anything, regardless of the price he tells you, is a profitable thing for you." He replaced his feet on the floor and leaned forward.

"Would you relax? I'm not that naive," Emma still didn't glance up from her papers. "I'll know if he tries to pull something screwy."

"You think he's going to be easy to deal with? Say or do the wrong thing and you could get your heart ripped out."

"God, that one is really stuck in your head isn't it?" Emma finally glanced up at him.

"You think?"

"I'm sorry," she replied. "That came out wrong. But it doesn't matter because I don't think the man _can_ rip my heart out. I've apparently got some kind of magic going on, in case you've forgotten. Cora couldn't take my heart."

"Because your magic is so reliable?"

"What is this? Hook, you're not the boss of me. If I say I can handle myself around Gold then I can! You can stop being Mister Concerned."

"Fine, risk your skin hanging around the crocodile. Don't say I didn't warn you." Killian stood up abruptly from his chair. "Good day, Swan."

Killian quickly exited the station, leaving Emma alone and very agitated.

"Good Lord..."

**.**

**. .**

**.**

"I mean, the _nerve_."

"Yeah Emma," Ruby replied. "You said that."

"I mean, he got all pushy about it. And I'm telling you right now the man knows something and he's not telling me. Ugh, that man makes my blood pressure spike."

"In a bad way, right?"

"Ruby!"

"Just checking!"

Emma snatched up the coffee that Ruby had brought her off of the counter.

"I should really have you bring me something stronger. You think anyone would notice if I was buzzed while I was on duty?"

"I don't think being in Gold's shop with a buzz is smart," Ruby replied.

"I hate it when you're right."

"So seeing as you came in here for another coffee before your usual afternoon crash, I'm assuming you're planning on heading over there now?"

"Yeah, I mean why put it off any longer than necessary?" Emma sighed and slid off of the bar stool, the same one she always sat on. It was her favorite spot in the diner; at the end of the bar near a window, but not directly next to it, and she'd made a habit of gravitating to that spot every time she came in and she was very irritated whenever someone who was uninformed on the matter of it being "Emma's Spot" took up residence there.

Emma had decided it would be best to drive to Gold's shop even though it was within walking distance, because she'd probably have to get Sophie from Mary-Margaret's place soon and she didn't want to walk back to the station for the car.

She let the car roll to a stop in front of the pawn shop, which seemed deserted. Emma thought about trying again later, but she noticed that Gold's sign was turned to "Open", so she exited the vehicle and strode towards the front door. The little bell above the door rang out merrily as she entered.

"Gold?"

"Ah, Miss Swan." Gold's voice was distant and she saw no sign of the man.

"I need to talk to you," She began. "Where are you?"

"Back here, Miss Swan."

Emma stepped carefully around the maze of tables and objects until she found the man in question, sorting through piles of books, some of which looked older than Emma cared to imagine. He brushed a bit of dust from his hands before reaching into one of his pockets. He extracted a small vial of a clear liquid.

"Interested?" He inquired.

"What... you don't even know what I want," Emma said, looking from the vial and back to him.

"The girl you plucked out of the ocean."

"How'd you know I came here for that?"

"The townspeople talk to my people who then talk to me," He replied.

"I see," Emma stated. "So do you think you can help?"

"As I believe Regina already stated, the only way to bring back memories is if we know which ones have been forgotten. We don't. As a matter of fact," He paused. "We don't even know if she's missing any memories."

"So you can't do anything?" Emma replied.

"I wouldn't say that," Gold said, giving her a sly smile.

"Okay, what?" Gold laughed lightly at this.

"I'd never played around much with memories," He explained. "But when it was discovered that crossing the town line caused the inhabitants of Storybrooke to forget who they were, I got curious."

"And?"

"And I started experimenting. Now I can't just _bring back_ any memories, but I have developed a little potion," He held up and wagged the small glass bottle he'd pulled from his pocket. "that's designed to... _thin_ whatever wall is between the person and the memories. Clears some of the fog, so to speak."

"This potion... is it safe?"

"Yes, completely." Emma raised an eyebrow incredulously at him.

"And what do you want? Obviously you're not doing this to set a shining example of philanthropy."

"Indeed I'm not." He smirked, replacing the vial into its respective pocket. "You see Miss Swan, your magical abilities are quite fascinating. I'd like to know more about them."

"My magical abilities?"

"Yes. I'd like to conduct some tests with you in exchange for the potion."

"Tests?"

"Goodness Swan, I'm not going to wire you to an electric chair and stick you with needles," He replied. "You just have to take instructions."

Emma hesitated. She didn't trust Gold as far as she could magically throw him, nor was she positive about how she felt with taking instructions of any kind from him.

"There's something else. Some catch."

"Have we been spending too much time around a certain pirate?" He responded.

Emma paused. She'd realized that her run-ins with Killian had been frequent (okay, daily) and had gotten a little less formal (as if Killian was anything but brazenly flirtatious), but she hadn't really thought too much about how that would affect her affiliation with the other people in town. She wasn't _friends_ with him. Not exactly. She felt for him sometimes; his egotistical ramblings and demands of retribution were constantly there, but somewhere else, the man was just plain broken.

She decided it was best to keep him out of this discussion.

"Kil- Hook has nothing to do with me being suspicious of you. I still owe you a favor. I find it hard to believe that you're going to make a new deal with me just like that."

"You owe me, Emma," He said. "But I can call on that favor another time and have no reason not to make an agreement with you now."

There was a long silence before Emma replied.

"Alright, what do I have to do?"

"Come with me." He walked towards a table set up with two chairs, and gestured for her to follow. "Have a seat."

Emma reluctantly sat down on one of the wooden chairs, nervously tracing the patterns of the grain on the table with her fingernails. Gold was occupied digging through a box until he found what he was looking for: A small candle.

"This will do." He said. He placed the candle in front of Emma and sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the table.

"What's that for?"

"Light it."

"With magic?"

"No, with water. Yes, with magic."

"You've gotta be kidding..."

"Just focus," He said. His tone had lost its austerity and softened. "Think, Emma. Think about what you want to happen."

Emma raised an eyebrow at this, but took a deep breath and focused her attention on the candle.

"Keep thinking. Focus on what you want it to do, then let it happen."

The candle remained unlit.

"Emma, you're either not focusing or you're focusing on the wrong thing."

"I'm focusing on the candle."

"Okay," Gold huffed. "Let's try again. Before you start trying to light the candle, think of something you feel strongly about."

Emma paused.

"Okay."

"Now go back to the candle."

A small spark erupted from the wick, and for a moment Emma thought it would burst into a small flame. The spark flashed momentarily then went cold.

"Did I do that?"

"Yes, you did." Gold smiled. "Well done, Miss Swan." He reached back into his pocket and then placed the same small vial on the table in front of her. "That'll do."

"That's it? No spell books? No sparkly dust?"

"Nope."

"Okay then..." Emma snatched the bottle off of the table and slid in into the pocket of her jeans. "I'm never sure if I should thank you or not."

"Don't worry about it," Gold replied. "Slip her that today, then tomorrow come back here and tell me what happened."

"Alright then." Emma said, shaking her head. She retraced her steps out of the shop, feeling the entire time that she was being watched. The bell above the door jingled again as she slipped onto the sidewalk. She was halfway to her car, just out of view if one was looking out the store's window, when someone grabbed the upper part of her jacket sleeve and yanked her to the side.

"What happened in there?"

"The next time you do that you're going to get maced!" Emma said.

Killian's brow folded together in confusion.

"I'm... what?"

"Mace, it's... Never mind." Emma shook her head and yanked her sleeve from his grip, smoothing over the wrinkles that had gathered under his fingers. "What are you doing here? Did you follow me?"

"I came to see what happened with _him._" Killian's eyes darted towards the shop. "And 'follow' sounds so gutless. I prefer 'pursue'." Emma smirked a little, then folded her arms.

"If you tell me whatever it is you're hiding, I might tell you."

"What is it, exactly, that makes you think I'm hiding something?" Hook mimicked her smirk-and-folded-arms stance.

"The Mister Concerned act, for one thing."

"Please elaborate,"

"Okay, fine." Emma replied. "The way you oh-so-heroically dived in to pull her out of the water. Then the way you hung around to make sure she was alright afterwards. Then this morning. Not to mention right now."

"I'm here to make sure you don't do something stupid," Killian said, narrowing his eyes.

"Oh really? Please enlighten me as to what stupidity you were referring to." Emma spat, her eyebrows arching upwards in annoyance.

"Swan, just tell me what happened in there. Did he offer you some absurd solution?" Killian had stepped closer, blocking her path, and he'd made a habit of looking up at the shop to be sure that no one was able to see them. His features were more serious and she could hear his voice becoming harsher; as if he was using a very large amount of will power to keep his voice low so as not to draw attention.

Emma discreetly reached into the pocket of her jeans, never allowing her eyes to leave Killian's. She turned the tiny bottle over in her fingers.

"When you come clean, I will." Emma said, removing her hand from her pocket and giving an innocent half-smile, tilting her head to the side a little before turning around and finishing the jaunt to her car.

**.****  
**

**. .**

**.**

_"Captain, is this really necessary?"_

_"Smee, I have never been known to go back on my word."_

_"But this is-"_

_"Smee..."_

_"Why do I have to be down here where it's dangerous while you sit up there and survey like... like..."_

_"Like your superior?"_

_"Oh balderda-" Smee stopped when Hook gave him a disciplinary glare. "...I mean, shouldn't you be doing this yourself, _Captain_?"_

_"Smee, I have to watch, which is hard to do when I'm in your position. And also I don't want to be on the receiving end of that until she's gained a bit of dexterity."_

_"What makes you think **I** do?"_

_"Absolutely nothing. You just got the short straw today."_

_"When did we draw straws?"_

_"We didn't, Smee. It was a figure of speech."_

_"So if we didn't draw straws, why can't someone else have drawn the short one?"_

_"Smee, stop sniveling."_

_"I will _not _stop sniveling until I get a decent answer as to why I'm always the one who gets the said undrawn short straw."_

_"Because you're an easy target, that's why." Killian tossed him a sheathed sword, which Smee caught._

_"Well then..."_

_Killian was perched near the helm of the ship, overlooking the deck. Wendy was standing below him next to Smee, borrowed cutlass in hand and arms folded, waiting for Killian and Smee to stop bickering._

_"Alright love," Killian began._

_"I assume you're no longer talking to me," Smee stated._

_"That I'm not. Wendy, go ahead."_

_Wendy took up the stance she'd been taught. It had been a few days since they'd climbed back aboard after retrieving the pearl, and Wendy had been relentlessly hounding Killian for the fighting lessons. He'd convinced (okay, commanded) Smee to be her temporary sparring partner during today's session, much to Smee's disgruntlement._

_"Perfect," Killian said. "Now, if he steps there... Very good. Not so wide, now. Good. Remember on your advance to take- No, step with your heel, then the back foot. Better. Now do that again but keep your feet shoulder width apart the whole time. Shoulder width. There. Now step back. Step forward. And back again. Good girl." Killian paused._

_"Smee, take a little crossover step." Smee moved what he thought was accordingly. "What? No. What was that? That wasn't right at all."_

_"What are you talking about?" Smee defended._

_"You have to... Oh, just let me do it." Killian jumped down from his perching place and strode across the deck towards the pair. He motioned for Smee to hand him the blade he was holding, then went to Wendy's side. "Keeping that - shoulders back a little more - Keeping that position, step forward with the back foot first, crossing over and... Yes. Next time step longer, you're going to end up tripping yourself. There."_

_There was another good hour of instruction, (much to Smee's dismay, he'd ended up the practice dummy instead of the fake adversary) and Wendy was uncharacteristically focused. Afterwards, though, Wendy had returned to her usual highly-animated self._

_Killian was getting things together, so to speak, readying himself, the ship, and everyone on board for the passage back to the Enchanted Forest. There was a lot to be done: They had to sail to a very particular spot (they were already en route, so his current activity was navigating) so they would end up in the sea and not in the middle of some town or any other undesirable location that a ship ought not to be, plus he was already plotting in his mind the ways that he would have to track the girl Ariel had spoken of._

_Now knowing of the time differences between Neverland and the Enchanted Forest, he knew that the longer they waited the larger the possibility of him leaving only to fail became, so they were also pressed for time._

_In short, he was kind of busy. Well, his mind was. He had a lot to think about, but not very much that he could actually do at this moment, something he hated. Hurry up and wait. He hated waiting._

_His mind was so busy, actually, that he couldn't bring himself to do any of the menial tasks he usually used to keep himself sane._

_He had given himself the job of navigating - a job that several of the crew members could just as easily do, but he wanted to do this personally, just to make sure. The problem with that was it was another damn hurry up and wait job. Wendy's lesson had been a good way to distract him, but now that he'd let himself slip back into his thoughts, he was frozen in place, staring out at the water while the ship rose and fell against the waves towards their destination._

_"What are you doing?"_

_"I'm busy. Go away."_

_"You don't look busy..."_

_"I feel busy. Is that a more satisfactory answer?"_

_"I suppose I can live with it,"_

_"I've noticed you have a talent for ignoring select things I say. I believe I had "go away" in the first answer somewhere."_

_"I ignored it because it was rude," Wendy responded. "So, what is it that is making you feel like you're busy even though you so clearly are not?" Killian hadn't moved from his place, leaning forward against the rail at the bow of the ship. Wendy faced the opposite direction, leaning backwards against the railing and crossing her arms._

_Killian sighed, then turned around to mimic this pose._

_"I've got a lot to think about and I'm pressed for time. Not the best combination for congeniality, love."_

_"Why are you so worried about getting back all of a sudden? You never mentioned it much before."_

_"Well you see," Killian explained. "An opportunity has arisen, and being that time moves so differently, it's of the utmost importance that we get back before the opportunity has passed."_

_"Huh. What kind of opportunity?"_

_Killian was quiet for a moment. What kind of opportunity? The opportunity to kill the man who killed _her_._

_There she went again, asking uncomfortable questions and bringing all kinds of unpleasant feelings bubbling to the surface. She had just awoken something, something he had felt a handful of times before. It was slightly painful, as it always had been. It left a bitter taste in his mouth and a hollow feeling in his chest and felt a bit like anger, which was completely inappropriate. He was well on his way to destroy his crocodile... he should be happy. Your emotions are supposed to be coherent with what has triggered them, but his were not and he didn't like it._

_The anger made him feel stupid and a bit guilty. She had been practically perfect in recent times, nothing but agreeable and just a bit less unmanageable than she'd used to be. She'd refrained from destroying, well, anything, and she'd been listening to orders a little better (the chasing after him in the mermaid caverns was easily forgiven). Really, he had more reasons to be pleased with her than not. She hadn't said or done anything (recently) to initiate any anger or animosity on his part, so why had such a simple question turned his intently focused mood into a highly-agitated and irritable one?_

_It wasn't through any fault of her own that she'd stirred up these feelings, so he squelched his annoyance._

_Wendy took this silence as an answer in and of itself._

_"Oh, it has something to do with the crocodile." Her statement startled him out of his thoughts._

_"Hm?"_

_"The crocodile that took your hand. The opportunity you're talking about has something to do with the crocodile you go on about."_

_Killian nodded thoughtfully. He didn't need to divulge too much information about his plan to her. Actually, he didn't dare explain to her that Rumpelstiltskin was not in fact, a real crocodile. Explaining to her that he planned to skin a crocodile was one thing. Explaining to her that he planned to kill a man was another._

_She was a peculiar and tolerant child, but Wendy didn't approve of killing. He didn't know where she'd picked up that notion, but her views on the topic had been clearly noted. Once, whilst venturing onto the island, Pan had dropped in to antagonize the pirate and although the taunting urchin hadn't done him any real harm, Hook had returned to the ship cursing how the boy had gotten away. Wendy had then asked what he would have done with him if he'd caught Pan, and without thinking Killian had exclaimed, "I'd have gutted the brat like a fish, of course!" which despite her own misgivings with Peter, didn't go over so well with the girl._

_After that, Killian had kept his more macabre side at a discreet distance from Wendy._

_She'd disapprove, alright. He hadn't thought about that as carefully as he should have; he'd been avoiding the issue on purpose each and every time. He wondered what she'd say if she knew exactly what he was involved in._

_She wouldn't just disapprove... she'd be completely devastated. She'd probably run off somewhere, leaving him behind hoping she didn't get herself killed or worse. His stomach turned at this thought, surprising him. He had often wished that the she-beast would up and disappear one day..._

_...but now it didn't sound like a very good idea at all._

_He didn't want to think about himself wondering about her safety. No, she couldn't know about Rumpelstiltskin. He couldn't say or do anything that would lead her to believe that his life goal was to stand there, watching Rumpelstiltskin die..._

_He didn't know why, but he didn't want to earn that disapproval... that hatred... He had her approval... her praise even. He didn't like to admit it, but he'd actually been purposely taking steps to earn it. Why didn't he want to let her down all of a sudden?_

_Perhaps because she reminded him of Milah... but then again, she didn't. He'd caught himself comparing the two almost daily, but now that he thought about it, she was a very different personality from the woman he'd loved. So what was it that made Milah spring to his thoughts when the girl was around?_

_In the beginning he'd begrudged her for it, forcing painful memories to the surface. Every time a happy moment with Milah entered his head, the memory of her lying in his arms as she died overwhelmed his mind. Lately though, it hadn't been happening like that. One of those memories would come along and be distracting enough to avert his mind from her death. She made him remember the better times and not concentrate on the tragic end. She brightened up the darker corners in his mind a little. He didn't mind it at all these days._

_Milah's death... Rumpelstiltskin... Wendy allowed a temporary hit of relief from those thoughts._

_Wait._

_Rumpelstiltskin. Milah's death. Wendy._

_No._

_What if... Wendy got into trouble with the crocodile?_

_Images of her in Milah's place, of Rumpelstiltskin there... No! She couldn't get hurt like that. He'd already had one thing that brightened his life ripped away from him by that monster, he wouldn't let him destroy this one._

_**.**_

_**. .**_

_**.**_

Emma strode up the little path to Mary-Margaret's front door, giving a few taps with the knocker. The door opened to a large smile, and Snow ushered her inside the front room. The house was just right for two people - not particularly large but comfortably spacious. It was growing on on Emma as "her parents' place" with it's cozy feel. It was just on the cusp of the town, far enough away to be out of the small amount of hustle and bustle of Storybrooke, but not far enough to be completely secluded.

"How'd today go?" She inquired, keeping her voice low. She closed the door. Nodding to her right, she signaled that Sophie was nearby.

"He gave me this." Emma reached into her jeans pocket and presented the small vial.

"What is that?" Snow asked, gently taking the glass in her hand and holding it up to the light that was coming in through the window. She examined in momentarily before handing it back to Emma.

"It's supposed to help her remember," Emma replied. "It won't bring anything back instantly, but it's supposed to help clear away whatever it is that prevents her from accessing the things she's forgotten."

"What was the catch?"

"He wanted to test my magic."

"He... what?"

"He wanted to... to see what I could do I guess." Emma replied.

"What happened?"

"Not much. I'd make a piss poor witch, anyway. I couldn't light a candle."

"So... that's it? That's all he wanted?"

"Yeah, so he says."

Mary-Margaret chewed her lip thoughtfully and shook her head.

"Sounds way too easy. For him, anyway."

"Yeah, well, I'm not getting over-confidant," Emma replied. "But he seems to be straightforward with this one. I'll be careful."

"And you're sure that potion isn't going to do anything bad?"

"I thought of that too," Emma responded. "But I can't find a motive for him to want to hurt her." Snow nodded thoughtfully. "So did she exhaust your grocery supply?"

"Not completely," Mary-Margaret said with a laugh. "but while we're on the subject, I do have some things to report."

"Oh yeah?"

"She's missed a lot of school. I mean, a _lot_. I guess that's just the teacher in me being hyper-sensitive to that sort of thing."

"That doesn't surprise me," Emma said, shaking her head. "The way she made most of her foster parents sound, I'm sure she wasn't winning any attendance awards."

"God, what is wrong with people?" Snow said with a scoff. "But that's not really what I wanted to tell you. You know how you were saying that you just had a feeling about her?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, I'm getting the same feeling."

"The one that feels like she doesn't really belong here? Like she's from another time and place?"

"Exactly!" Snow exclaimed in her hushed tone. "Just... something about her doesn't feel like it fits."

"I knew I wasn't crazy," Emma said thoughtfully.

**.**

**. .**

**.**

**A/N: Again, sorry this took so long! Thanks for sticking with me! I already know how the seventh chapter is going to go, so hopefully it won't take me too long! Don't forget to review. ;D**


	7. Stupid Pirate

**A/N: I'd just like to apologize for how long this took me. I have so much _crap_ going on it's not even remotely funny. Then I kept deleting and re-writing because I didn't like stuff... but it's here now, right?**

**Disclaimer:**

**Roses are red,**  
**Violets are blue,**  
**I don't own,**  
**Please don't sue!**

**R&R?**

**.**

**. .**

**.**

Stupid pirate.

Emma had been thinking about Killian's- Damn it, Hook. She'd meant Hook.

She'd been thinking about Hook's strange behavior since their encounter outside the pawn shop, and that thought was all she'd managed to conjure.

Stupid pirate.

A juvenile response to his stubbornness, yes, but it was better than nothing.

He'd give up eventually. Emma had extorted the truth from him before, she would do it again. The problem with Killi- Stop it! Hook! The problem with Hook was that he was willing to go to extremes to prove what he said was the truth (whether it was or not), and he'd only give in if he saw absolutely no other means of saving his skin.

She'd almost had to let him get ripped into confetti to get his goddamn name.

Stupid Killian.

_Hook!_ She scolded herself. _It's Hook. Just Hook._

She was trying to make herself sound less comfortable around him than she really was, noting Gold's comments about people thinking they were getting too friendly.

Gold wasn't the only one who'd mentioned Emma's growing... Friendship? They weren't really friends. Her acquaintanceship, she decided, with Killi- Hook. With Hook. Where the hell was she?

Right.

Other than Gold, others had approached her about 'getting friendly' with him: Ruby, Belle, Leroy, (the last two being extremely pessimistic about the subject) but mostly Mary-Margaret and David.

_"It's no big deal, I don't know why everyone's making this such an issue."_

_"He's here for revenge, not to pal around with the locals."_

_"We're not 'palling around', I just don't think he's as horrible as everyone else says."_

_"He's a pirate, Emma, we worry."_

It was one of the sweetest, most protective parental gestures she'd ever received, and she was grateful, but she still disagreed.

It wasn't that she had just suddenly decided to get chummy with him, but he _was_ always hanging around somewhere, and he had never indicated that he was a danger to anyone in the town (besides Gold, that is). And being that Gold's having magic put a rather large damper on his plans, Emma knew that he was being careful. He was thinking. In the beginning, she'd been a little worried that he'd do something careless and rash, like he'd burst into Gold's pawn shop one day and get himself zapped into oblivion.

However, he was being discreet. Too discreet, actually. She wanted something to go on, some way to know what he was up to so she could deal with it accordingly and hopefully end up with neither Gold or Killian (Hook, not Killian, Hook!) dead. Alas, nothing.

She decided not to think about Killian (Hook, damn it!) too much, the man frustrated her.

_Dinner now. You can worry Hook and his lying ass later._ She thought, pushing the man in question from her thoughts.

Emma had made a point of buying soda. She wasn't a big soda person herself, didn't think Henry was either, knew Sophie didn't need the sugar or the caffeine - but she wanted to make sure she had a sure-fire way to get Gold's potion down her.

Henry was finishing his homework at the breakfast bar, Sophie was... Still laying on the floor surrounded by library books in the living room, thank God, and Emma had fetched dinner, including pizza, bread sticks, and said soft drink.

Emma had explained the situation to Henry, who was doing a very good job of pretending that Storybrooke was a completely normal town, and not filled with not-so-fictional characters. They'd agreed that they would act as normal as possible and act as if nothing overly unusual had happened, save for not talking about Fairy-Tale Land and strictly sticking to the use of everyone's Storybrooke names. If they tried too hard, they'd be acting suspicious and if they were acting oddly, Sophie would no doubt be disturbed. They didn't want to spook her.

Emma poured a glass of Pepsi, using a completely different glass than the ones she and Henry would use, making sure that this one wouldn't be mistaken for anyone else's. She emptied the contents of Gold's vial into the drink, swirling it around a bit before placing it on the counter and instructing Henry not to touch it. She called Sophie over from her place on the floor in the living room.

Simple small talk was all that passed between the trio while they ate. As planned, Sophie downed the beverage and was none the wiser. Emma hadn't really known what to expect as far as waiting for the potion to kick in, but when she'd cleaned the kitchen, checked Henry's homework, and gotten comfortable on the couch she began to wonder if Sophie should be acting any differently yet.

Nothing seemed even _mildly_ different about the girl.

After sitting through a movie of Henry's choosing, Emma glanced over to find both Henry and Sophie soundly asleep. Emma nudged Henry awake, and he reluctantly staggered into his bedroom after a quick goodnight. Sophie had set up the pull-out sofa in advance of their film, so Emma tossed a blanket over her sleeping form and went to bed herself, finding no reason to keep herself up late.

**.**

**. .**

**.**

_The sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon, sending a warm glow of auburn and gold dancing across the waves. Killian's still highly-active mind was buzzing with anticipation. He turned the pearl over in his hand, examining its smooth exterior._

_"So... That little thing's going to take this entire ship out of Neverland?" Her voice was innately sharp and enterprising, ringing out clearly over the sounds of the sea. It never failed to slap him awake out of one of his reveries._

_"In theory."_

_"I don't trust it. Not for a second."_

_"Wendy dear, I know. You remind me constantly."_

_"Well, can you blame me?" She asked. "What happened in the caverns doesn't even come close to what I've seen them do-"_

_"Love, I've been sailing for as long as I can remember. I've heard just as many mermaid stories as you have; probably more."_

_"But they're not stories!"_

_"I don't trust the halfbreeds any more than you do, but on this particular occasion I have a certain amount of faith in this one."_

_"So we just so happen to find the one mermaid who isn't completely demented, and-"_

_"Wendy, hush."_

_"But Killian!" she stomped one of her feet in a display of frustration._

_Killian rolled his eyes at the protest, slowly turning his head to give her a correctional glare that would convey his growing aggravation._

_Wendy let out a flustered sigh at this before mumbling something he didn't quite catch._

_Killian _did_ have to admit, the girl's stubbornness attested to her strong spirit, something he had to admire in someone her age (and size), and he'd grown sort of fond of it. Even though on occasions such as this it could turn against him._

_"Anyhow," he said slowly, "We're there."_

_"Took long enough..."_

_"Smee!"_

_"Yes sir?"_

_"Ready the men - we're going home."_

_Smee turned to begin yelling orders at the crew, and within minutes the ship stopped most forward movement and began to just float placidly._

_Killian waited only a few moments before giving one last glance around and tossing the pearl hard against the deck. It shattered, the tiny fragments shimmering slightly before they slowly disappeared._

_"Nothing's happening, it's not working."_

_"Give it a moment," He replied._

_Just as he was ready to curse to himself for being a fool, the perfectly placid water around the ship began to move. It was slow at first, like the ripples left by an object being thrown into the water. Slowly, they grew. The ripples swirled and churned until they created small waves, enough to cause the previously still _Roger_ to rock gently. The waves rocked the ship from the front backwards, causing the bow to rise up slightly before sinking again. The slight breeze that had been nothing to mention a moment ago, picked up speed and gusted against the sails. _

_"It's working." Killian mused._

_The small waves grew, but instead of simply tossing the ship, they swept upwards past the sides, sending a spray of seawater across the deck as the stern rose, sending the nose of the ship downwards again._

_"Are you sure about this?" Wendy asked, widening her stance to keep her balance on the now tilting, shifting deck. He noticed a slight change in her just then. He doubted that she'd completely dropped fighting him over this, but her tone of voice no longer held a note of cynicism; she was timidly voicing her concerns rather than battle them to the death. She was suddenly less willing to be confrontational and most of the bravado melted away into apprehension._

_"Mostly," Killian replied, trying to soothe her anxieties. He didn't like to lie unless the truth would cause problems for him, and in this case, saying he was absolutely positive would have been far from the truth. He wasn't doubtful of the pearl's magic (he'd gotten to Neverland with a bean, after all), but he did feel just a bit uneasy when the waves crashed higher and splashed more vigorously across the deck._

_The ship now smacked furiously against the waves, causing enough motion to send even the strongest pair of sea legs into an unbalanced stagger. Wendy stepped closer to Killian's side, trying to stay balanced as the ship rocked unpleasantly beneath her feet. Killian steadied himself against the mast, catching Wendy by the arm as she fell when the ship jerked sharply. She grabbed his coat sleeve with her hand nervously to keep herself upright. The water continued to writhe below them, swirling itself up the sides and into a miniature maelstrom that began to pull the _Roger_ down towards it. Foot by foot, the water began to swallow the hull of the ship._

_"What if it doesn't work? They've tried to sink the ship before..."_

_"Just wait..."_

_Wendy waited, but the twisting of her stomach only worsened. The ship continued to push downward into the sea, the water inching higher and higher above where it rightly belonged. The waves continued to rush up the sides, but now they were delivering far more water and she suspected that they were helping to push the ship downwards into the sea._

_The crew had begun to cluster on deck, retreating from below when the hull had begun to fill with water. The ship wasn't just sinking, though. It was being sucked downwards by some magical force. The water had not calmed, but the ship was rocking very little due to it being mostly submerged now. The waves rushed up and over the deck, and Wendy stepped even closer to Killian's side when small waves swept against their feet as if they were standing at the edge of the beach._

_The deck was nearly level with the waves when the water rushed once more over the ship, enveloping it entirely. With one more pull from unseen forces, the ship was engulfed and swallowed into the depths._

_**.**_

_**. .**_

_**.**_

Emma turned slowly, eyes darting around the premises, trying to pull any image possible from the inky blackness surrounding her. It was so dark it was like she'd been swallowed in it completely. She didn't know if she couldn't see because there was no light here, or if it was because there was simply nothing there to see.

"If I died and went to heaven, I totally got screwed."

"You're um, not in heaven."

"That's comforting," Emma snapped at the invisible voice. "So I'm in hell? Not such a bad place, considering."

"Emma, you're not dead."

"Oh, that's always a nice thing to hear," Emma replied. "So... are you going to tell me where the hell I am?"

"You can't see?"

"No I can't fucking see! It's _dark_!" Emma was highly irritated with the voice who seemed to know everything, and at the same time have no sense of the obvious.

"That's not a good sign. It means you've hidden what's here. Why would you do that, Emma?"

"I can't tell you why unless you tell me where I am!"

"You're in your heart."

"I'm... what?"

"In your heart."

"Like... literally, or figuratively?"

"Your figurative heart, of course. You can't literally go into your heart, that's absurd."

"Because some random-ass voice telling me I'm in my own heart is somehow _not_ absurd?"

"I'm just you, but more honest." The invisible voice said.

"Oh yeah, that's much better. I'm _literally_ talking to myself. And more honest? Are you saying I'm a liar?"

"Only to yourself."

"What is this about? How did I even get here?"

"Not important. Follow me, you have some people to talk to."

"I can't follow you, I don't know where you are. It's dark, remember?"

"Don't follow me, then. Just walk."

"This 'ghost of Christmas past' thing is getting old really fast, just so you know." Emma took a tentative step forward, then another. She still couldn't see a damn thing, but she found that the floor (or ground... whatever) was smooth and level so she continued to walk until she noticed that she didn't feel... alone.

"Go ahead." The invisible voice said. Emma felt like it was no longer talking to her. She was unsure about who else could have possibly just gotten addressed, but she didn't want to be rude by intruding on whatever hushed conversation was happening around her.

"Emma," A new, male voice entered the scene.

"What? who are you?"

"Ems, it's me." Emma froze in place.

"...Neal?" God, she really _had_ hidden what was here, and up until now she thought she'd done a damn good job of it. Her first instinct was to block it out, to cover her ears. She didn't want him here, she wanted to scream at him to get out and never come back. She wanted him _gone_.  
_  
"Mom!"_

"Henry?" Emma cried. She suddenly didn't want to hear the other voice. She wanted to hear Henry, only Henry. She spun around blindly, searching for the source of the cry.

"Mom, wake up!" Two hands were shaking her shoulders, pulling her out of her slumber. She opened her eyes with a gasp, to find her son standing over her with a frantic expression on his face. She cringed at the bedroom lights, which Henry had apparently flipped on.

"Hmm... Henry? What's going on?"

"Sophie's gone!"

"What?" Emma staggered out of bed and bolted after Henry and into the living room.

"See?"

"Jesus, I thought we just did this!" Emma charged towards the front door, which was hanging ajar. "You're sure she's nowhere in the house?"

"Positive," Henry replied. "I woke up because I heard her talking in her sleep. By the time I'd gotten out here, she was just... gone."

Emma ran back to her room, pulling on a pair of jeans and frisking the pockets of her coat for her phone. She found the item and began hitting a series of numbers before clapping the phone to her ear and pulling on the jacket she'd removed it from.

"Who are you calling?"

"Mary-Margret and David, I'm going to need help finding her."

"Can I go with you?"

"I can't just leave you here... We'll have to find a place for you to hang. I wonder if Ruby could help..."

"How far could she have gotten? It hasn't been very long."

"Someone on the run can go a long way in a short time. She ran from me before her accident, I slip her a memory potion and suddenly she runs off again. Something's up, and if she's trying to get away she could be anywhere in Storybrooke by now. Also, if her memories came back, that's proof that she was affected by the curse. We've got to stop her from crossing the town line - she doesn't know anything about it." She paused when a groggy voice came through the earpiece. "David? Yes, I know what time it is. We have a situation."

**.**

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**.**

Killian was flopped back into a chair, sitting with his feet propped up on his desk, not giving a damn about the maps and navigational charts under his boots, chin resting on top of his fist. He didn't know how long he'd been there, exactly. Long enough for it to have gotten dark. He hadn't noticed it getting dark. He'd just glanced up and, well, it was night. It took him a few moments of sitting there in the dark like that to convince him that he should move.

Get a light. Go to sleep. Do _something_.

He reluctantly stood, realizing he must have been in that position for a very long time if the stiffness that had spread throughout his body was any indication. He stretched, starting with his arms then turning to stretch out his back, staying in that position until his muscles quivered beneath the soft fabric of the strangely-styled shirt he'd acquired. He pulled a lamp that he was just barely able to see nearer to him before he fumbled around his desk for the lighter he'd pilfered from Emma's desk one morning.

There were a few (okay, a lot of) things about Storybrooke that he was not keen on (Cars being among them. He saw their usefulness but had less and less desire to be near them as the days went by.), but there were some novelty items that he'd found quite accommodating. Like Emma's lighter. She'd pulled it out of her desk drawer to melt the end of a fraying nylon shoelace she'd been fussing with. Killian thought it was the most agreeable thing he'd ever seen - it was plain _perfect_ - but didn't say anything for fear of coming off as ignorant and misinformed. She'd not noticed its disappearance, so he was guessing that she didn't use it very often and would not miss it.

With a simple flick (A simple flick. He loved it.), he illuminated the dark cabin with the lamp he kept on his desk. He glanced at the clock. God, he'd been sitting there for longer than he'd feared. He'd been thinking for too long. Now the day was gone and he had nothing to show for it, not even the simplest solution.

Options. Problems. He didn't like the fact that his options would only serve to confuse the problems, no matter what course of action he took. He was good with problems, that skill was never called into question, but when he had more than one _big_ problem to dissect it drained his head of all reasonable thoughts and he couldn't solve a single one of them.

He had a one-track mind, and it had just gotten violently derailed (for the second time) by a small female who had no idea what kind of chaos she was really causing. He hadn't expected to ever see her again. She had gone, and that had been the end of it. Not that he'd never wondered, and thinking on it now he berated himself for not even considering that he'd run into her in Storybrooke. It had occurred to him for only a second that whatever place the curse was transporting them to would involve her, but it had occurred to him, and he'd ignored it. He'd pushed the ideas that were building in his head away because he had been close, so close to killing Rumpelstiltskin. Nothing else had mattered. Not who he had to work with, not who he had to face, not who he left behind. Now here he was back in the same tangled mess he'd been in to start with, and it was worse now because he'd burned a lot of bridges when it came to allies. As a matter of fact, anyone who'd met or heard of him previously had a pretty unsavory opinion of him. He'd had a few altercations with some locals.

Actually, that was how he'd gotten into the habit of being around Emma so often. She'd arrested him and thrown him in the holding cell one afternoon, and well, they got to talking. Emma had said that although no one was very happy about him running around, she wasn't worried about him for the most part. She did warn him that she'd be keeping a close watch on him.

Well, Emma could wait and Emma could watch, but he wasn't going to give her any reason to get skeptical. He didn't really have anything for her to be skeptical about; Until now, that is. He could have covered his ass a lot better than he had under other circumstances, but he'd been caught too off guard. He was lucky he'd come up with what he did considering the conditions, half-baked and lame as it was. Still, he cringed when he thought of his lack of preparation.

_Deal with the girl first. She will be the bigger problem if the Dark One finds out._

He strode to the other side of his cabin, leaning against the window frame to stare out at the marina. He hadn't docked there, the _Jolly Roger_ was just a little bit in-your-face over there, but he could see the other boats floating quietly offshore. Usually it helped him think, - or stop thinking, in some cases - but it wasn't helping him do either of these things tonight and he wasn't happy about it.

He considered trying to sleep, but he reasoned that he would lie there awake for possibly hours, something he hated. He weighed a few more options of all the things one could do by one's self at two AM, and he settled on the least productive but most mentally liberating - rum. He'd have to go down into the hold to get some, so he grabbed the lamp and followed its flickering light across the deck to the lowest parts of the ship.

There was an uncomfortable feeling looming around him, nagging the back of his mind. He couldn't get rid of it no matter how hard he tried to shake it, and he finally decided to stop fighting it and figure out exactly what it was. The rum would help.

He grabbed the nearest glass bottle available, and realizing it was empty, tossed it to the ground in frustration. He'd always had a decent supply on hand, but he hadn't restocked in a while and given that he'd taken to doing what he was doing tonight (with the insomnia and nagging problems), he'd depleted his resources bottle by bottle.

Damn it.

There was that one place in town... They'd more than likely still be open at this time... Oh, but he hated to do that. Drink in public, that is. If you were celebrating with friends it was one thing, if you were trying to loosen your thoughts, it was another.

Oh well, he'd live.

He walked back to the deck, extinguishing the lamp once he was outside and the stars gave him enough light to see by. Once he was off the ship, he covered the distance between his ship and the rest of the marina in a few minutes, and once he'd reached the paved sidewalk that would lead him to his rum, the uncomfortable feeling was hanging over him again.

He hated not knowing exactly why he was so uncomfortable... The unidentified problem C! Of course, he should have known.

For the hundredth time he replayed his thoughts, trying to find clues that would solve the mysterious problem C and still he hadn't managed to unravel the tangled mess that apparently existed only in his head.

He sifted through his thoughts for any possible explanation for there being a problem C as he walked briskly towards the Rabbit Hole (Granny's was closed). Each step took him past buildings that were silent at this time of the night, the dim streetlights casting an eerie glow across the pavement. It was perfectly quiet, a far cry from what he'd find at his destination, so he decided to enjoy it while it lasted and forget about untangling his elusive problem.

For a long time, the quietness was disturbed only by the sound of his footsteps. However, when he paused to check that he was going in the right direction, he realized that the methodical _tap tap tap_ against the cement had continued.

Someone else was walking nearby.

_How odd,_ he thought. He listened for a moment, trying to pinpoint the direction of the footfalls. There was too much of an echo with the empty streets, the sounds just bounced off the buildings. He turned to scan the area for any signs of the footsteps' owner, but saw nothing and concluding that they were around some corner where he couldn't see.

The footsteps grew louder, but his gut instinct wasn't telling him that there was any danger, so he continued on his way. The louder the footfalls grew, the louder the echo became. It was still hard to decipher exactly which direction they were coming from, but Killian determined that they were most likely coming from the direction behind him.

He turned a corner, and jumped in surprise when he almost ran over a blonde who was walking too quickly to really see where she was going.

"Swan?"

"God... you just scared the shit out of me!" Emma placed one hand on her chest as if to slow her heartbeat. Her words were breathy, as if she'd been walking like that for a while. The minor adrenaline rush probably hadn't helped either.

"What are you doing out here? There's some very unsavory characters about at this time." He winked. Emma rolled her eyes. He realized that he hadn't really _meant_ to say anything flirtatious, it had just come out.

Bloody hell, that was it.

The unidentified problem C! How could he have been so stupid?

_Emma._

"If I tell you, you have to help."

"I beg your pardon?"

"If I tell you why I'm running around in the dark at two-thirty in the morning, you have to help me. And you can't mock me, because this is the second time it's happened and you're going to say something sarcastic."

"Who, me?" He said innocently.

"Goodnight." She moved to step around him.

Well, he did _kind of_ want to know. But then again, now that he'd figured out that Emma was his mysterious problem C, he really needed that drink.

"Alright," he said. "Pirate's honor."

"Yeah, because _that's_ something to go on."

"You want my help or not?"

Emma paused.

"I lost the kid."

"Henry?"

"Hook!"

"How in the name of God do you lose the same child twice in one day?"

Oh, fuck. She'd forgotten that he didn't know about Gold's potion. She'd forgotten that she'd _very specifically _not told him.

"It's easier than you'd think," she replied. "We have to find her before she crosses the town line. Up for a search?"

"Even _I_ can kept better tabs on her than you lot, and I'm not even involved in your kidnapping scheme," He replied. Before Emma could protest to the comment about the 'kidnapping', he finished with, "So I guess it's only sensible that I assist you."

"Good," Emma replied. "Ruby's trying to track her, David and Mary-Margaret are checking out by the woods. I told them I'd take the marina. You can help me."

"We should check the bar. That's where I'd go."

"Ha ha, very funny." She stepped around him a continued her power-walk towards the marina, and with one last longing glance in the direction of his previous destination, Killian followed.

**.**

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**.**

**A/N: If you reviewed or have been following, I'd like to thank you -again- for sticking by me with this! I know I've said it before, but you guys are the reason I keep writing this. Thank you for the encouragement. (teary-eyed hug)**

**God, I wasn't going to do this... but I have to give another shout-out to Honeydewmelon56 for giving me a shout-out on her profile. =D You are awesome!**


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